从哲学到实用
From Philosophy to Utility
第四版
Fourth Edition
Andrew Ede 和 Lesley B. Cormack
Andrew Ede and Lesley B. Cormack
多伦多大学出版社
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
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标题:社会中的科学史:从哲学到实用性 / 安德鲁·埃德和莱斯利·B·科马克。
Title: A history of science in society : from philosophy to utility / Andrew Ede and Lesley B. Cormack.
姓名:Ede,Andrew,作者。| Cormack,Lesley B.,1957–,作者。
Names: Ede, Andrew, author. | Cormack, Lesley B., 1957–, author.
描述:第四版。| 包括参考书目和索引。
Description: Fourth edition. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
标识符:Canadiana(印刷本)20210307560 | Canadiana(电子书)20210307579 | ISBN 9781487506933(布面精装本)| ISBN 9781487524630(纸质本)| ISBN 9781487535193(EPUB)| ISBN 9781487535186(PDF)
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20210307560 | Canadiana (ebook) 20210307579 | ISBN 9781487506933 (cloth) | ISBN 9781487524630 (paper) | ISBN 9781487535193 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781487535186 (PDF)
主题:LCSH:科学 – 历史。| LCSH:科学 – 社会方面 – 历史。| LCSH:科学 – 哲学 – 历史。
Subjects: LCSH: Science – History. | LCSH: Science – Social aspects – History. | LCSH: Science – Philosophy – History.
分类:LCC Q125 .E33 2022 | DDC 509 – dc23
Classification: LCC Q125 .E33 2022 | DDC 509 – dc23
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University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada and the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario, for its publishing activities.
1 The Origins of Natural Philosophy
2 The Roman Era and the Rise of Islam
3 The Revival of Natural Philosophy in Western Europe
4 Science in the Renaissance: The Courtly Philosophers
5 The Scientific Revolution: Contested Territory
6 The Enlightenment and Enterprise
11 1957: The Year the World Became a Planet
12 Man on the Moon, Microwave in the Kitchen
13 Science and New Frontiers: Potential and Peril in the New Millennium
1.2 The Universe According to Pythagoras
1.3 Using the Pythagorean Relation to Create a Right Angle
1.4 Geometric Demonstration of the Pythagorean Relationship
1.7 The Arrow’s Motion According to Aristotle
1.8 Eratosthenes’s Measurement of the Earth
2.6 Celestial Clock of Giovanni de Dondi of Padua
2.7 Ptolemy’s World Map from Geographia (1482)
2.9 Islamic and Byzantine Empires, 750–1000 (Map)
2.11 Table of the Substances According to Al-Razi in Secret of Secrets
2.14 Chinese Mechanical Clock (c. 1092)
3.1 The First Two Crusades (Map)
3.3 Theodoric’s Rainbow from De Iride (c. 1304)
4.1 The Spread of Printing in Europe (Map)
4.2De Revolutionibus中的哥白尼太阳系(1543)
4.2 The Copernican Solar System from De Revolutionibus (1543)
4.3 Tycho Brahe’s Observational Equipment
4.5 Johannes Blaeu’s World Map, c. 1664
4.6Agricola's De Re Metallica的矿石加工设备(1556)
4.6 Ore Processing Equipment from Agricola’s De Re Metallica (1556)
4.71500-1650 年欧洲自然哲学研究的主要地点(地图)
4.7 Major Sites of Natural Philosophical Work in Europe, 1500–1650 (Map)
4.8 Holbein’s The Ambassadors (1533)
4.9 The Question of Cannon Range
4.11 Kepler’s Nested Geometric Solids
4.13伽利略《关于两大世界体系的对话》卷首插画(1632 年)
4.13 Frontispiece from Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632)
4.14维萨里的骨骼和肌肉人,De Humani Corporis Fabrica (1543)
4.14 Bone and Muscle Men from Vesalius, De Humani Corporis Fabrica (1543)
4.15维萨里的《De Humani Corporis Fabrica》卷首插画(1543)
4.15 Frontispiece from Vesalius’s De Humani Corporis Fabrica (1543)
5.2 Newton Explains the Moon’s Motion
5.3 Descartes’s Vortex Cosmology
5.4 Harvey’s Model of the Heart
5.5 Illustration of von Guericke’s Magdeburg Experiment
5.6波义尔的气泵和工具,摘自《物理力学新实验》(1660 年)
5.6 Boyle’s Air Pump and Tools from New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall (1660)
5.7 An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump, Joseph Wright of Derby (1768)
5.8罗伯特·胡克(Robert Hooke)的《显微图谱》(1665 年)中的插图
5.8 Illustration from Robert Hooke’s Micrographia (1665)
5.9 Newton’s Double Prism Experiment
5.10 Frontispiece from Sprat’s History of the Royal Society (1667)
6.1 Illustration Showing a Chemical Laboratory from Diderot’s Encyclopédie (1772)
6.2 Scientific Societies in Europe, 1660–1800 (Map)
6.6詹姆斯·库克船长的三次航行 (1768–1779)(地图)
6.6 Captain James Cook’s Three Voyages (1768–1779) (Map)
6.7 Page from Linnaeus’s Systema Naturae (1735)
6.9拉瓦锡和拉普拉斯的冰量热计(摘自《化学元素》)(1789 年)
6.9 Lavoisier and Laplace’s Ice Calorimeter from Elements of Chemistry (1789)
7.1 Blumenbach’s Race Distribution
7.2 Cuvier’s Mastodon from 1806
7.3 1846 Reconstruction of an Irish Elk
7.5达尔文乘坐小猎犬号的航行(1831-1836 年)(地图)
7.5 Darwin’s Voyage on the HMS Beagle (1831–1836) (Map)
7.9门捷列夫元素周期表,摘自《化学年鉴》 ( Annalen der chemie ) (1871)
7.9 Mendeleev’s Periodic Table from Annalen der chemie (1871)
7.10 Mendeleev’s Predictions and Boisbaudran’s Analytical Results
7.11 Kekulé’s Sausage Formula for CH4
7.12 Kekulé’s Acetic Acid Table
7.14 Chemical Descendants and Relatives of Aniline Dyes
8.1 Henry’s Electric Motor from American Journal of Science (1831)
8.3 Steam Engine and Dynamo (1907)
8.4 Joule’s Diagram of the Mechanical Equivalent to Heat
8.5 Hertz’s Spark Gap Experiment
8.6伦琴 (Röntgen) 对阿尔弗雷德·冯·科利克 (Alfred von Kölliker) 手部进行的 X 射线检查,1986 年
8.6 Röntgen’s X-Ray of Alfred von Kölliker’s Hand, 1986
8.8 Raisin Bun Model and Rutherford’s Orbital Model
9.1 Ether Drift Apparatus from Michelson and Morley’s Experiment (1887)
9.2 Mendel’s Seven Characteristics
9.4 Africa after the Berlin Conference, 1885 (Map)
9.5 The Western Front, World War I (Map)
10.4 The Fusion of Hydrogen to Helium
10.6 Watson and Crick and the Double Helix
11.1 Hydrogen Bomb Test, Bikini Atoll, 1956
12.1 International Unions by Date of Founding
12.2 Babbage’s Difference Engine
Natural Philosophy and Patronage: Aristotle and Alexander the Great
Omar Khayyam: Scientist and Poet
Intercultural Exchange: The Development of Islamic Cartography
Natural Philosophy and Education: Alcuin and the Rise of Cathedral Schools
Patronage and the Investigation of Nature: John Dee and the Court of Elizabeth I
Science and the Marketplace: Mathematics for Sale
Science and the Revolutionary Spirit
Jesuit Science Overseas, 1540–1773
Science and Class: Wallace and Collecting
The “Warfare” between Science and Religion
Scientist and Empire: Ernest Rutherford from the Colonies
Chemical War: Science and the State
感谢 Graham 和 Quin,他们伴随着这本书一起成长,并且忍受了两位作者同时在同一间屋子里工作。我们还要感谢那些帮助本书问世的人:我们的编辑和出版商、阅读初稿并给予建议的朋友和同事、提出有益批评并迫使我们捍卫自己立场的评论者和用户,以及所有让我们站在他们肩膀(或脚趾)上的杰出科学史学家。
To Graham and Quin, who have grown up with this book – and who put up with two authors working in the house at the same time. We would also like to thank those people who helped make this book possible: our editor and publisher, friends and colleagues who read early drafts and gave advice, reviewers and users who have offered helpful criticism and forced us to defend our position, and all the amazing historians of science on whose shoulders (or toes) we stand.
科学改变了人类历史。它改变了我们看待宇宙的方式、我们与自然和彼此互动的方式以及我们的生活方式。未来,它甚至可能改变人类的意义。如此强大力量的历史值得全面而多方面的审视。然而,科学史不同于君主、将军、蒸汽机或战争的历史,因为科学不是一个人、一个物体或一个事件。它是一种理念,即人类可以理解物质世界。
Science has transformed human history. It has changed how we see the universe, how we interact with nature and each other, and how we live our lives. It may, in the future, even change what it means to be human. The history of such a powerful force deserves a full and multifaceted examination. Yet a history of science is unlike a history of monarchs, generals, steam engines, or wars because science isn’t a person, an object, or an event. It is an idea, the idea that humans can understand the physical world.
这是一部关于不同时代、不同背景的思想家们将他们的思想和行动用于研究自然的历史。在这个过程中,他们改变了世界。
This is a history of what happens when a legion of thinkers, at different times and from different backgrounds, turned their minds and hands to the investigation of nature. In the process, they transformed the world.
科学史是一个如此庞大的课题,以至于没有一本书能够真正全面地介绍它,因此我们讲述的故事是从特定的角度来审视科学的。一些科学史侧重于思想的智力发展,而另一些则追溯了天文学或物理学等特定学科的发展历程。在这本书中,我们选择从两个相关的角度来审视科学,我们认为这两个角度为我们了解塑造自然研究的历史进程提供了一个窗口。首先,我们研究了哲学上对知识的追求与研究人员及其支持者希望使这些知识变得有用的愿望之间的联系。科学的智力方面与科学知识的应用之间一直存在着紧张关系。古希腊哲学家们一直在努力解决这个问题,今天仍在争论这个问题。每个时代的哲学家和科学家都呼吁更多对“为研究而研究”的支持表明了寻求知识与应用知识的压力之间的矛盾。什么才是有用的知识因赞助人和社会的不同而不同,因此,科西莫·德·美第奇大公爵和美国能源部希望他们的客户创造完全不同的“产品”,但他们都用支持换取了实用的潜力。
The history of science is such a vast subject that no single book about it can really be comprehensive, and so the story we tell examines science from a particular point of view. Some histories of science have focused on the intellectual development of ideas, while others have traced the course of particular subjects such as astronomy or physics. In this book, we have chosen to look at science from two related perspectives that we believe offer a window onto the historical processes that shaped the study of nature. First, we have examined the link between the philosophical pursuit of knowledge and the desire of both the researchers and their supporters to make that knowledge useful. There has always been a tension between the intellectual aspects of science and the application of scientific knowledge. The ancient Greek philosophers struggled with this problem, and it is still being debated today. The call in every age by philosophers and scientists for more support for “research for its own sake” is indicative of the tension between the search for knowledge and the pressure to apply that knowledge. What counts as useful knowledge differed from patron to patron and society to society, so that the Grand Duke Cosimo de’ Medici and the United States Department of Energy looked for quite different “products” to be created by their clients, but both traded support for the potential of utility.
不仅许多自然哲学家和科学家感受到了知识追求与某种产品需求之间的矛盾,而且科学史学家之间也存在争议。他们问道,科学在哪里结束,技术在哪里开始?也许最著名的表述就是“学者与工匠之争”。科学史学家试图理解那些主要对知识的效用感兴趣的人(工匠)与那些对知识理解世界感兴趣的人(学者)之间的关系。一些历史学家否认了这种联系,但我们认为,这种联系对于追求自然知识至关重要。近代早期的地理学家很好地说明了这种相互联系的必要性。他们将航海家的技能与数学家的抽象知识结合在一起。将球形地球转化为平面地图是一项智力挑战,而徒步走到地球的四个角落进行测量是一项极大的体力挑战。理论和实践的正确性可能意味着盈利或亏损,甚至是生死之间的差别。
The tension between intellectual pursuits and demands for some kind of product not only was felt by many natural philosophers and scientists but has also led to controversy among historians of science. Where does science end and technology begin? they have asked. Perhaps the most famous articulation of this is the “scholar and craftsman debate.” Historians of science have tried to understand the relationship between those people primarily interested in the utility of knowledge (the craftsmen) and those interested in the intellectual understanding of the world (the scholars). Some historians have denied the connection, but we feel it is integral to the pursuit of natural knowledge. The geographers of the early modern period provide a good example of the necessity of this interconnection. They brought the skills of the navigator together with the abstract knowledge of the mathematician. Translating the spherical Earth onto flat maps was an intellectual challenge, while tramping to the four corners of the globe to take measurements was an extreme physical challenge. Getting theory and practice right could mean the difference between profit or loss, or even life and death.
我们的第二个目标是通过科学的社会地位来追溯其历史。科学并不存在于无形的思想中,而是活生生的社会的一部分。它植根于学校、王室、政府部门等机构,甚至士兵的训练中。因此,我们试图将科学工作与其发生的社会联系起来,追溯社会利益与个人利益的相互作用。这指导了我们的重点领域,例如,我们为炼金术分配了比其他一些科学史更大的空间,因为它比同一时期的天文学或物理学等主题更具社会意义。炼金术士的数量远远超过天文学家,他们来自各个阶层,从农民到教皇。从长远来看,炼金术向化学的转变对日常生活质量产生了非常大的影响。这并不是说我们忽视天文学或物理学,而是我们试图关注那个时代的人们认为重要的事情,避免将后来的研究成果的重要性投射到早期的时代。
Our second aim has been to trace the history of science by its social place. Science does not exist in disembodied minds, but is part of living, breathing society. It is embedded in institutions such as schools, princely courts, government departments, and even in the training of soldiers. As such, we have tried to relate scientific work to the society in which it took place, tracing the interplay of social interest with personal interest. This has guided our areas of emphasis so that, for example, we give alchemy a greater allocation of space than some other histories of science because it was more socially significant than topics such as astronomy or physics in the same period. There were far more alchemists than astronomers, and they came from all ranks and classes of people, from peasants to popes. In the longer term, the transformation of alchemy into chemistry had a very great impact on the quality of everyday life. This is not to say that we neglect astronomy or physics, but rather that we have tried to focus on what was important to the people of the era and to avoid projecting the importance of later work on earlier ages.
在每一章中,我们都强调了科学与社会互动的至少一个方面,从政治与宗教到经济与战争,标题为“联系”。虽然每个小插曲都是本书整体叙述的一部分,但它们也可以作为单独的案例研究来阅读。
In each chapter, we have highlighted at least one aspect of this interaction of science and society, from politics and religion to economics and warfare, under the heading “Connections.” While each of these vignettes is part of the larger narrative of the book, they can also be read as individual case studies.
我们的副标题就是从效用和社会地位这两个角度出发的。当我们开始审视 2000 多年来自然哲学家和科学家的工作时,我们发现自己越来越被知识效用问题的一致性所震撼。柏拉图鄙视知识的效用,但他提倡对几何学的理解。埃拉托色尼用几何学来测量地球的直径,这有许多实际应用。在现代,我们看到许多科学成果意外地变成了消费品。例如,阴极射线管是一种用来研究物质性质的设备,但它最终成为现代电视的核心。哲学家和科学家一直在知识分子和技术人员的角色之间走钢丝。太偏向技术方面,一个人就会看起来像个工匠,失去知识分子的地位。太偏向知识方面,一个人很难找到支持,因为他们几乎无法为潜在的赞助人提供什么。
It is from the two perspectives of utility and social place that our subtitle comes. As we began to look at the work of natural philosophers and scientists over more than 2,000 years, we found ourselves more and more struck by the consistency of the issue of the utility of knowledge. Plato disdained the utility of knowledge, but he promoted an understanding of geometry. Eratosthenes used geometry to measure the diameter of the Earth, which had many practical applications. In the modern era, we have seen many cases of scientific work unexpectedly turned into consumer goods. The cathode ray tube, for instance, was a device created to study the nature of matter, but it ended up in the heart of the modern television. Philosophers and scientists have always walked a fine line between the role of intellectual and the role of technician. Too far to the technical side and a person will appear to be an artisan and lose their status as an intellectual. Too far to the intellectual side, a person will have trouble finding support because they have little to offer potential patrons.
尽管哲学与实用性之间的矛盾一直存在于研究者群体中,但我们并没有将这本书的副标题定为“哲学与实用性”。这是因为随着时间的推移,我们看到的哲学与实用性之间的矛盾不仅仅是内在矛盾。自然哲学最初是一门深奥的学科,研究对象是一小群人,通常是精英阶层。他们的工作在智力上很重要,但对整个社会的影响有限。随着时间的推移,对自然哲学感兴趣的人越来越多,随着社区的发展,研究人员声称他们所做的事情将造福社会的主张也在不断增加。在近代和现代,科学家越来越多地根据其潜在的实用性来推广他们的工作,无论是作为癌症的治疗方法还是作为烹饪食物的更好方法。而且,在很大程度上,科学的实用性在从生产不褪色染料到用一颗炸弹摧毁整座城市等所有事情中都得到了生动的展示。我们已经开始期望科学能够生产出我们可以使用的东西,而且,我们需要受过科学训练的人来维持我们复杂的系统运转——从测试饮用水的纯度到在学校教授科学。我们的副标题反映了社会对科学不断变化的期望。
Although the tension over philosophy and utility has always existed for the community of researchers, we did not subtitle our book “Philosophy and Utility.” This is because the internal tension was not the only aspect of philosophy and utility that we saw over time. Natural philosophy started as an esoteric subject studied by a small, often very elite, group of people. Their work was intellectually important but had limited impact on the wider society. Over time, the number of people interested in natural philosophy grew, and as the community grew, so too did the claims of researchers that what they were doing would benefit society. Through the early modern and modern eras, scientists increasingly promoted their work on the basis of its potential utility, whether as a cure for cancer or as a better way to cook food. And, in large part, the utility of science has been graphically demonstrated in everything from the production of color-fast dyes to the destruction of whole cities with a single bomb. We have come to expect science to produce things we can use, and, further, we need scientifically trained people to keep our complex systems working – everything from testing the purity of our drinking water to teaching science in school. Our subtitle reflects the changing social expectation of science.
我们还根据简洁的需要对材料进行了一些选择。本书不可能涵盖科学中所有主题的所有历史方面,甚至不可能介绍科学中的所有学科。我们挑选了一些例子来说明关键事件和思想,而不是提供详尽的细节。例如,有限的我们纳入的大部分医学史主要关注医学中将身体作为研究对象的例子,因此是自然哲学中更大的知识运动的一部分。我们还选择主要关注西方自然哲学和科学的发展,尽管我们试图承认自然哲学也存在于其他地方,西方科学并不是孤立发展的。特别是在早期,西方思想家从各种各样的来源吸收思想、材料和信息。到了十七和十八世纪,西方学者与其他文化互动并交换信息,尽管地位不平等。在后来的时期,西方科学成为世界各国现代化和国际化的有力工具。最近,学者们开始研究土著和传统世界观和知识与西方科学之间的相互作用,我们将简要讨论这一点。科学史讲述了一个关于人类文化这一强大部分发展的特殊而重要的故事,它已经并将继续改变我们所有人的生活。研究科学史就是研究人类历史布中的一条伟大线索。
We have also made some choices about material based on the need for brevity. This book could not include all historical aspects of all topics in science or even introduce all the disciplines in science. We picked examples that illustrate key events and ideas rather than give exhaustive detail. For instance, the limited amount of medical history we include looks primarily at examples from medicine that treated the body as an object of research and thus as part of a larger intellectual movement in natural philosophy. We also chose to focus primarily on Western developments in natural philosophy and science, although we tried to acknowledge that natural philosophy existed in other places as well and that Western science did not develop in isolation. Especially in the early periods, Western thinkers were absorbing ideas, materials, and information from a wide variety of sources. By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Western scholars were interacting with other cultures and exchanging information, although not on an equal footing. In later periods, Western science became a powerful tool for modernization and internationalization of countries around the world. Recently, scholars have begun to examine the interactions between Indigenous and traditional worldviews and knowledge and Western science, which we discuss briefly. A History of Science tells a particular – and important – story about the development of this powerful part of human culture, which has and continues to transform all our lives. To study the history of science is to study one of the great threads in the cloth of human history.
现代科学的根源在于一小部分古希腊哲学家所创造的自然哲学遗产。从希腊到现代世界的旅程是曲折的,自然哲学被探索和重新探索这些希腊思想家的基本思想的文化所改变。尽管面临思想和实践方面的挑战,但近 2000 年来,希腊人对如何思考世界和宇宙如何运作的观念仍然是欧洲和中东任何自然研究的核心。即使自然哲学家开始拒绝希腊哲学家的结论,这种拒绝本身仍然带有希腊哲学的形式和关注点。今天,当希腊方法或关于物理世界的结论几乎荡然无存时,关于如何理解我们认为我们对宇宙了解的哲学关注仍然在我们现代版本的自然哲学中回响。
The roots of modern science are found in the heritage of natural philosophy created by a small group of ancient Greek philosophers. The voyage from the Greeks to the modern world was a convoluted one, and natural philosophy was transformed by the cultures that explored and re-explored the foundational ideas of those Greek thinkers. Despite intellectual and practical challenges, the Greek conceptions of how to think about the world and how the universe worked remained at the heart of any investigation of nature in Europe and the Middle East for almost 2,000 years. Even when natural philosophers began to reject the conclusions of the Greek philosophers, the rejection itself still carried with it the form and concerns of Greek philosophy. Today, when virtually nothing of Greek method or conclusions about the physical world remains, the philosophical concerns about how to understand what we think we know about the universe still echo in our modern version of natural philosophy.
要理解希腊自然哲学为何如此惊人,我们必须考虑导致自然哲学诞生的条件。自人类活动最早以来,观察自然一直是人类生存的关键。从哪些植物可食用到婴儿从哪里出生,关于一切的知识都是人类获得并代代相传的知识的一部分。除了对日常生活有用的实用知识外,人类还努力了解存在的本质,并将他们的知识和结论封装在神话诗意故事的框架中。人类一直想知道的不仅仅是世界上有什么;他们还想知道世界为什么是这个样子。
To understand why Greek natural philosophy was such an astounding achievement, we must consider the conditions that led to the creation of a philosophy of nature. Since the earliest times of human activity, the observation of nature has been a key to human survival. Knowledge of everything – from which plants are edible to where babies come from – was part of the knowledge acquired and passed down through the generations. In addition to practical knowledge useful for daily life, humans worked to understand the nature of existence and encapsulated their knowledge and conclusions in a framework of mytho-poetic stories. Humans have always wanted to know more than just what is in the world; they want to know why the world is the way it is.
随着农业的兴起和城市文明的发展,随着新技能的产生,有关自然的知识类型也变得多样化。尼罗河、底格里斯河-幼发拉底河、印度河-恒河和黄河这四条河流沿岸出现了四大文明摇篮。它们有一个共同的特点,即一条大河可以长距离航行,并且会定期淹没该地区。尼罗河的洪水泛滥非常频繁,以至于它的涨落成为埃及人计时的一部分。这些洪水使土壤焕然一新,温带至亚热带地区的土地过去(现在也是)农业资源丰富,为大量人口提供了食物。
With the rise of agriculture and the development of urban civilization, the types of knowledge about nature were diversified as new skills were created. There arose four great cradles of civilization along the river systems of the Nile, the Tigris-Euphrates, the Indus-Ganges, and the Yellow. They shared the common characteristic of a large river that was navigable over a long distance and that flooded the region on a periodic basis. The Nile in particular flooded so regularly that its rise and fall was part of the timekeeping of the Egyptians. These floods renewed the soil, and the lands in temperate to subtropical zones were (and are) agriculturally abundant, providing food to support large populations.
土地的剩余使越来越多的人从农活中解放出来。这些人是工匠、士兵、牧师、贵族和官僚,他们可以将自己的努力用于发展和经营帝国。掌握这些技能需要越来越长的学习和实践时间。工匠需要学徒来获得和掌握他们的手艺,而祭司阶层则需要数年时间才能学习正确遵守的教义和方法。军事和统治阶级需要从小接受训练,以熟练履行职责。因为帝国是长期存在的,尤其是埃及帝国,统治者们制定了长远的计划,不仅考虑当前,还考虑未来几年甚至几代人。因此,这些文明可以承担大型建筑项目,如中国的长城或吉萨大金字塔。
A growing group of people were freed from farm work by the surplus the land provided. These people were the artisans, soldiers, priests, nobles, and bureaucrats who could turn their efforts to the development and running of an empire. The mastery of these skills required increasingly longer periods of study and practice. Artisans required apprenticeships to acquire and master their arts, while the priest class took years to learn the doctrine and methods of correct observance. The military and ruling classes required training from childhood to grow proficient in their duties. Because the empires were long-lasting, especially the Egyptian Empire, the rulers planned for the long term, thinking not just about the present season but about the years ahead and even generations into the future. Thus, these civilizations could take on major building projects such as the Great Wall of China or the Great Pyramid of Giza.
除了河流带来的明显的农业和经济优势外,它们还对古代文明的智力发展产生了许多微妙的影响。处理大规模农业生产需要计算和测量长度、重量、面积和体积,这导致了会计技能和记录的产生。农业和宗教交织在一起,两者都依赖计时来组织崇拜和生产所需的活动,这反过来又导致了天文观测和日历的产生。随着这些社会从村庄发展到地区王国,最终成为帝国,记录超出了记忆所能留下的范围。写作和会计的发展是为了处理记忆和记录的问题复杂的宗教、政府官僚机构和法庭法官的判决的各种活动。
In addition to the obvious agricultural and economic advantage provided by the rivers, they had a number of subtle effects on the intellectual development of ancient civilizations. Dealing with large-scale agricultural production required counting and measurement of length, weight, area, and volume, and that led to accounting skills and record-keeping. Agriculture and religion were intertwined, and both depended on timekeeping to organize activities necessary for worship and production, which in turn led to astronomical observation and calendars. As these societies moved from villages to regional kingdoms and finally became empires, record-keeping exceeded what could be left to memory. Writing and accounting developed to deal with the problems of remembering and recording the myriad activities of complex religions, government bureaucracies, and the decisions of judges at courts of law.
周期性洪水带来的另一个智力发展方面与当地地标的消失有关,因此测量技能得到了发展。土地的边界不是用树木或岩石等物体来划定的,因为这些物体会随着每次洪水而改变,而是以不受洪水影响的物体来测量。除了土地测量的实用技能外,测量还引入了几何概念以及水平和角度测量设备的使用。这些设备随后被用于建设灌溉系统、运河和大型建筑等项目。反过来,测量工具与用于导航和天文学的工具密切相关。
Another aspect of intellectual development that came from the periodic flooding had to do with the loss of local landmarks, so skills of surveying were developed. Rather than setting the boundaries of land by objects such as trees or rocks, which changed with every inundation, the land was measured from objects unaffected by the flooding. In addition to the practical skills of land measurement, surveying also introduced concepts of geometry and the use of level and angle measuring devices. These were then used for building projects such as irrigation systems, canals, and large buildings. In turn, surveying tools were closely related to the tools used for navigation and astronomy.
这些实用技能促成了基于抽象模型的世界观。换句话说,数牛促成了算术这一概念的形成,算术是一门可以独立于任何实际要数的物体来教授的学科。同样,乘船从一个地方到另一个地方也导致了航海的发展。航海技能始于领航员经常旅行的地方的当地知识。虽然当地领航员很有用,而且世界主要港口今天仍在雇用港口领航员,但当船只驶入未知水域时,需要适用于无法提前知道的情况的一般航海方法。航海技能变成了关于空间和时间位置的抽象概念。
These kinds of practical skills contributed to a conception of the world based on abstract models. In other words, counting cattle contributed to the concept of arithmetic as a subject that could be taught independent of any actual object to be counted. Similarly, getting from place to place by boat led to the development of navigation. The skill of navigation started as local knowledge of the place a pilot frequently traveled. While a local pilot was useful, and the world’s major ports still employ harbor pilots today, general methods of navigation applicable to circumstances that could not be known in advance were needed as ships sailed into unknown waters. The skill of navigation was turned into abstract ideas about position in space and time.
四大河流域的各个古代帝国掌握了观察、记录、测量和数学的所有技能,这些技能构成了自然哲学的基础。历史学家越来越多地承认我们从这些文明中得到的智慧债务以及祖先传给我们的知识量。科学史越来越多地成为全球努力了解自然和我们在更广阔的宇宙中的位置的历史。今天,我们对来自埃及人、巴比伦人、印度人、中国人和土著人民的科学遗产有了更好的了解。
The various ancient empires of the four river systems mastered all the skills of observation, record-keeping, measurement, and mathematics that would form the foundation of natural philosophy. Historians have increasingly acknowledged the intellectual debt we owe these civilizations and the amount of knowledge passed on to us from our ancestors. The history of science is increasingly the history of global efforts to understand nature and our place in the wider universe. Today we have a much better understanding of our scientific heritage that came to us from the Egyptians, Babylonians, Indians, Chinese, and Indigenous people.
传统科学史关注欧洲的部分原因就是沙文主义。现代科学(这里指的是后哥白尼时代的科学研究)很大程度上是欧洲的创造,因此人们倾向于以欧洲崛起源于希腊和罗马的叙述来开始自然哲学的传承。随着欧洲征服、殖民主义和与世界其他地区的权力关系的故事发生变化并受到挑战,科学史也发生了变化。
Part of the reason that traditional history of science was focused on Europe was simply chauvinism. Modern science (meaning here post-Copernican investigations) was largely a European creation, so there was a preference for beginning the heritage of natural philosophy with the narrative that the rise of Europe came from Greek and Roman origins. As the story of European conquest, colonialism, and power relations with other parts of the world have changed and been challenged, so has the history of science.
从哲学角度来看,认识论(研究知识和系统以证明信仰)是人类的常识。所有民族都在寻求知识并创造框架来组织和利用知识。这正是现代历史学家面临的难题。我们如何承认科学的更广泛根源(寻求有关物理世界的知识),同时又能反映出这样一个历史现实:今天我们所理解的科学起源于主要发生在我们现在所说的欧洲的特定事件?想象一下,一位中世纪的基督教僧侣正在研究倭马亚王朝哈里发统治下的托莱多图书馆中发现的阿拉伯语版亚里士多德著作。这位僧侣真的是西方知识霸权的一部分吗?这位僧侣生活在一个效忠他的宗教的时代,他所知道的最强大的帝国在中东,而不是欧洲。一千年后,欧洲强大了,这在一定程度上得益于僧侣的工作,但只有将现代类别强加于他,并忽视他的信仰和对世界的理解,僧侣才能被视为欧洲人。
From a philosophical point of view, epistemology (the study of knowledge and systems to justify belief) is a human constant. All peoples seek knowledge and create frameworks to organize and utilize knowledge. Herein lies the conundrum for the modern historian. How do we acknowledge the wider roots of science (seeking knowledge about the physical world) while at the same time reflecting the historical reality that science as it is understood today arose from specific events that happened primarily in what we now call Europe? Consider a medieval Christian monk working with an Arabic edition of Aristotle found in a library at Toledo under the Umayyad caliphs. Is the monk really a part of western intellectual hegemony? The monk lived at a time when his allegiance was to his religion and the most powerful empire he was aware of was in the Middle East, not Europe. A thousand years later, Europe was powerful, helped in some small way by the monk’s work, but the monk can only be seen as European by imposing modern categories on him and ignoring his beliefs and understanding of the world.
然而,尽管希腊人取得了许多成就,但从希腊人而不是更古老的文化开始自然哲学是有原因的。尽管这些古老的文化拥有技术知识、敏锐的观察技巧和丰富的材料和信息资源,但他们未能创造自然哲学,因为他们没有将自然世界与超自然世界分开。旧帝国的宗教建立在这样的信念之上:物质世界由超自然生物和力量控制和居住,而这些超自然力量行为的原因在很大程度上是不可知的。虽然四大河流文化的社会有许多技术发展,但知识遗产却由祭司主导,他们对物质世界的兴趣是他们神学概念的延伸。许多古代文明,如埃及、巴比伦和阿兹特克帝国,都将大量社会资本(包括时间、财富、技能和社会公共空间等)用于宗教活动。大金字塔是法老胡夫(又名基奥普斯)的陵墓,高出吉萨平原 148 米,是金字塔中最大的一座。这是一项令人惊叹的工程壮举,向我们展示了建造者的能力和技术水平。但金字塔也告诉我们一个社会如此关心死亡和来世,以至于整个社会的注意力都集中在建造一座巨大的陵墓上。
There is, however, a reason to start natural philosophy with the Greeks rather than the older cultures, despite their many accomplishments. Although these older cultures had technical knowledge, keen observational skills, and vast resources of material and information, they failed to create natural philosophy because they did not separate the natural world from the supernatural world. The religions of the old empires were predicated on the belief that the material world was controlled and inhabited by supernatural beings and forces, and that the reason for the behavior of these supernatural forces was largely unknowable. Although there were many technical developments in the societies of the four river cultures, the intellectual heritage was dominated by the priests, and their interest in the material world was an extension of their concepts of theology. Many ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptian, Babylonian, and Aztec empires, expended a large proportion of social capital (covering such things as the time, wealth, skill, and public space of the society) on religious activity. The Great Pyramid, built as the tomb for the Pharaoh Khufu (also known as Cheops), rises 148 meters above the plain of Giza and is the largest of the pyramids. It is an astonishing engineering feat and tells us a great deal about the power and technical skills of the people who built it. But the pyramids also tell us about a society that was so concerned about death and the afterlife that its whole focus could be on the building of a giant tomb.
古代帝国的权力本身可能阻碍了知识活动的改变。社会阶层和僵化的阶级结构使人们只能从事狭隘的职业。巨大的财富意味着几乎不需要探索世界或从其他地方寻找物质产品,因为帝国以外的地区与现有的相比,几乎没有什么有趣或有价值的东西。尽管印度河-恒河和底格里斯河-幼发拉底河沿岸的文明受政治不稳定和入侵的影响更大,但这两个地区埃及文明和中国文明发展出了极其复杂的社会,其官僚机构训练有素,但同时也变得越来越孤立和内向。
The very power of the ancient empires may have worked against a change in intellectual activity. Social stratification and rigid class structure kept people in narrowly defined occupations. Great wealth meant little need to explore the world or seek material goods from elsewhere since the regions beyond the empire contained little of interest or value compared to what was already available. Although it was less true of the civilizations along the Indus-Ganges and Tigris-Euphrates river systems, which were more affected by political instability and invasions, both the Egyptian and Chinese civilizations developed incredibly complex societies with highly trained bureaucracies that grew increasingly insular and inward-looking.
无法确定希腊人为何选择不同的道路,但他们的生活和文化提供了一些线索。希腊人并不特别富裕,尤其是与他们的邻居埃及人相比。尽管希腊社会由语言和共同的传统统一起来,但它并不是一个单一的政治实体,而是分散在爱琴海和地中海东端的城邦的集合。这些城邦在不断变化的伙伴关系、联盟和对抗中不断相互竞争。这种斗争延伸到生活的许多方面,不仅包括贸易或军事竞争,还包括体育竞争(奥运会的体育和宗教节日尤为突出);通过宣称拥有最好的诗人、剧作家、音乐家、艺术家和建筑师来追求文化优越性;甚至由于各个城邦吸引了伟大的思想家,也存在智力竞争。这种成为最好的压力是促使希腊人探索的因素之一,它使希腊人能够将他们遇到的人的智力和物质财富带回家。
It is impossible to be certain why the Greeks took a different route, but aspects of their life and culture offer some insight. The Greeks were not particularly well-off, especially when compared to their neighbors the Egyptians. Although unified by language and shared heritage, Greek society was not a single political entity but a collection of city-states scattered around the Aegean Sea and the eastern end of the Mediterranean. These city-states were in constant competition with each other in a frequently changing array of partnerships, alliances, and antagonisms. This struggle extended to many facets of life, so that it included not just trade or military competition but also athletic rivalry (highlighted by the athletic and religious festival of the Olympics); the pursuit of cultural superiority by claiming the best poets, playwrights, musicians, artists, and architects; and even intellectual competition as various city-states attracted great thinkers. This pressure to be the best was one of the spurs to exploration that allowed the Greeks to bring home the intellectual and material wealth of the people they encountered.
另一个因素是希腊人生活在公共场所的程度。希腊社会结构的大部分围绕着市场或集市。这不仅是购物场所,而且是一个持续的公共论坛,人们在这里讨论政治问题、提供各种医疗服务、哲学家辩论和教学,并传播世界新闻和物质产品。希腊人积极参与国家治理,习惯于将辩论和讨论重要事务作为日常生活的一部分。希腊法律虽然因州而异,但往往基于证据概念,而不是权力行使。公开交流思想和要求个人在政治和文化生活中发表意见,使希腊人拥有思想严谨的传统和对替代哲学的宽容。从暴政到民主,城邦中共存的各种各样的治理方式向我们展示了他们愿意尝试新方法来处理公共问题。
Another factor was the degree to which Greek life was carried out in public. Much of Greek social structure revolved around the marketplace or agora. This was not just a place to shop but a constant public forum where political issues were discussed, various medical services were offered, philosophers debated and taught, and the news and material goods of the world were disseminated. The Greeks were a people who actively participated in the governance of the state and were accustomed to debate and discussion of matters of importance as part of the daily course of life. Greek law, while varying from state to state, was often based on the concept of proof rather than the exercise of authority. The public exchange of ideas and demand for individual say in the direction of their political and cultural life gave the Greeks a heritage of intellectual rigor and a tolerance for alternative philosophies. The vast range of governing styles that coexisted in the city-states, from tyranny to democracy, shows us a willingness to try new methods of dealing with public issues.
再加上希腊人的竞争意识,这意味着他们不仅在心理上做好了迎接挑战的准备,而且习惯于倾听和考虑不同的观点。他们从邻近文明中吸收他们认为有用的东西,并将其转化为自己的需要。
Combined with the competitiveness of the Greeks, this meant that they were not only psychologically prepared to take on challenges but also accustomed to hearing and considering alternative views. They absorbed those things they found useful from neighboring civilizations and turned them to their own needs.
希腊宗教也不同于邻国的宗教。对于希腊人来说,众神殿中的诸神在表现和与人的互动方面更加人性化。凡人可以与诸神争论、竞争,甚至至少在一段时间内违抗他们。尽管希腊世界仍然充满了精神,但希腊人不太倾向于给每个物体赋予超自然的品质。虽然可能有一位海神,水手们需要向他献祭,但大海本身就是水。希腊人的宗教态度也不像邻国那样宿命论。虽然逃脱命运是不可能的,正如俄狄浦斯王的故事所表明的那样,但诸神也青睐那些自助的人。从根本上讲,希腊人相信他们可以成为万事万物中的佼佼者,他们不想等来世才获得回报。
Greek religion also differed from that of their neighbors. For the Greeks, the gods of the pantheon were much more human in their presentation and interaction with people. Mortals could argue with the gods, compete against them, and even defy them, at least for a time. Although the Greek world was still full of spirits, Greeks were less inclined to imbue every physical object with supernatural qualities. While there might be a god of the seas to whom sailors needed to make offerings, the sea itself was just water. The religious attitude of Greeks was also less fatalistic than that of their neighbors. While it might be impossible to escape fate, as the story of Oedipus Rex shows, it was also the case that the gods favored those who helped themselves. At some fundamental level, the Greeks believed that they could be the best at everything, and they did not want to wait for the afterlife to gain their rewards.
1.1希腊世界
1.1 THE GREEK WORLD
虽然希腊社会有很多积极的东西,但我们也应该记住,希腊人有时间和闲暇进行这种公共生活,是因为维持社会运转的大部分工作是由奴隶完成的。尽管各个城邦的奴隶制条件各不相同,但即使在民主的雅典(民主仅限于雅典出生的成年男性),大多数卑微的职位甚至工匠阶层都是由奴隶组成的。那些用手工作的人处于社会等级的最底层。
Although there were many positive things about Greek society, we should also remember that the Greeks had the time and leisure for this kind of public life because a large proportion of the work to keep the society going was done by slaves. Although the conditions of slavery varied from city-state to city-state, even in democratic Athens (where democracy was limited to adult males of Athenian birth), most of the menial positions and even the artisan class were made up of slaves. Those who worked with their hands were at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
很难证明这些希腊社会和社会心理因素是否足以解释为何希腊人开始将自然与超自然分开。然而,这种分离成为了公元前 6 世纪左右出现在爱奥尼亚的一批哲学家的核心信条。其中最著名的是米利都的泰勒斯(约公元前 624 年 - 约公元前 548 年)。我们对泰勒斯或他的作品知之甚少。流传下来的大部分信息都是以后来哲学家的评论的形式出现的。人们认为他是一名商人,或者至少是一名旅行者,他曾访问过埃及和美索不达米亚,在那里他学习了几何和天文学。泰勒斯认为水是自然界的主要组成部分,所有物质都由水以三种形式构成:水、土和雾。他似乎借用了埃及人的物质概念,埃及人也认为土、水和空气是物质世界的主要成分,但他更进一步,从一种元素开始。泰勒斯把世界描绘成一个球体(尽管它可能是鼓形的),漂浮在天海上。
Whether these elements of Greek society and social psychology are sufficient to explain why the Greeks began to separate the natural from the supernatural is difficult to prove. Yet this separation became a central tenet for a line of philosophers who began to appear in Ionia around the sixth century BCE. The most famous of these was Thales of Miletus (c. 624–c. 548 BCE). We know very little about Thales or his work. Most of what comes down to us is in the form of comments by later philosophers. He was thought to have been a merchant, or at least a traveler, who visited Egypt and Mesopotamia where he was supposed to have learned geometry and astronomy. Thales argued that water was the prime constituent of nature and that all matter was made of water in one of three forms: water, earth, and mist. He seems to be borrowing from the material conception of the Egyptians, who also considered earth, water, and air to be the primary constituents of the material world, but he took it one step further by starting with one element. Thales pictured the world as a sphere (although it might have been drum-shaped) that floated on a celestial sea.
即使在泰勒斯哲学的这些残缺记录中,也有两点引人注目。首先,自然完全是物质的;没有超自然构成要素的迹象。这并不意味着泰勒斯抛弃了神,而是认为宇宙具有独立于超自然存在的物质存在。第二点是,自然是自发运转的,而不是超自然干预的。因此,存在着普遍或普遍的条件来支配自然,而这些条件可供人类研究和理解。
Even in this fragmentary record of Thales’s philosophy, two things stand out. First, nature is completely material; there are no hints of supernatural constituent elements. This does not mean that Thales discarded the gods but rather that he thought that the universe had a material existence independent of supernatural beings. The second point is that nature functions of its own accord, not by supernatural intervention. It follows that there are general or universal conditions governing nature and that those conditions are open to human investigation and understanding.
继泰勒斯之后的是他的学生和弟子阿那克西曼德(约公元前 610 年 - 约公元前 545年)。阿那克西曼德在最初的三个元素中添加了火,并提出了以地球为中心的三个火环的宇宙学。这些火环被永久的薄雾遮挡,但薄雾中的孔隙让它们的光线透过,形成了星星、太阳和月亮的图像。与泰勒斯一样,阿那克西曼德使用机械解释来解释在自然。他的系统存在一些问题,因为它将恒星的火环置于月球和太阳的火环内。他可能在其他地方解决了这些问题,但这些信息我们已经丢失了。
Following Thales was his student and disciple Anaximander (c. 610–c. 545 BCE). Anaximander added fire to the initial three elements and produced a cosmology based on the Earth at the center of three rings of fire. These rings were hidden from view by a perpetual mist, but apertures in the mist allowed their light to shine through, producing the image of stars, the Sun, and the Moon. Like Thales, Anaximander used a mechanical explanation to account for the effects observed in nature. His system presented some problems since it placed the ring of fire for the stars inside the rings of fire for the Moon and the Sun. He may have addressed these issues elsewhere, but that information is lost to us.
阿那克西曼德还试图提供一个统一而自然的系统来解释动物的生命。他认为动物是由湿润的土壤在太阳的热量作用下产生的。这将四种元素放在一起作为生命的先决条件。这种自然发生的概念是从早期思想家那里借来的,很可能是基于对昆虫甚至青蛙从地下出现的事件的观察。阿那克西曼德将这一理论更进一步,认为简单的生物会变成更复杂的生物。因此,人类是由其他生物创造的,可能是某种鱼。这将自然元素与自然过程联系起来,而不是超自然干预,从而创造了我们所看到的世界。
Anaximander also tried to provide a unified and natural system to account for animal life. He argued that animals were generated from wet earth that was acted upon by the heat of the Sun. This placed all four elements together as a prerequisite for life. This conception of spontaneous generation was borrowed from earlier thinkers and was likely based on the observation of events such as the appearance of insects or even frogs from out of the ground. Anaximander took the theory a step further by arguing that simpler creatures changed into more complex ones. Thus, humans were created from some other creature, probably some kind of fish. This linked the elements of nature with natural processes rather than supernatural intervention to create the world that we see.
爱奥尼亚人对原始材料和自然过程的关注将成为希腊自然哲学的核心公理之一,但它本身不足以形成完整的哲学体系。大约在阿那克西曼德研究物质哲学的时候,另一群希腊人正在发展一种不是基于物质而是基于数字的世界观。这种哲学思想从毕达哥拉斯那里传下来。目前尚不清楚是否真的有一个名叫毕达哥拉斯的历史人物。传统上,人们认为他出生于 582 年左右的萨摩斯岛,并学习过爱奥尼亚哲学,甚至可能是阿那克西曼德的学生。据说他威胁到了萨摩斯暴君波利克拉底的权威,被迫逃离该岛前往大希腊(意大利)。
The Ionian concern with primary materials and natural processes would become one of the central axioms of Greek natural philosophy, but by itself it was insufficient for a complete philosophical system. At about the time Anaximander was working on his material philosophy, another group of Greeks was developing a conception of the world based not on matter but on number. This thread of philosophy comes down to us from Pythagoras. It is unclear if there actually was a single historical figure named Pythagoras. Traditionally, he was thought to have been born on the island of Samos around 582 and to have studied Ionian philosophy, perhaps even as a student of Anaximander. He was supposed to have threatened the authority of the tyrant Polycrates on Samos and was forced to flee the island for Magna Graecia (Italy).
由于毕达哥拉斯的追随者与当地政府发生冲突,因此毕达哥拉斯学派不应被视为一群四处游荡的数学家。事实上,他们的生活建立在一种充满仪式的宗教之上。他们相信永生和灵魂轮回,但毕达哥拉斯学派的核心是基于数字的宇宙观。生活的各个方面都可以用数字、比例、几何和比率的形式来表达。例如,婚姻被赋予数字五,作为代表男人的数字三和代表女人的数字二的结合。尽管数字系统有神秘的方面,但毕达哥拉斯学派试图用数学来量化自然。一个很好的例子就是他们对音乐和谐的展示。他们表明,弦的长度决定了产生的音符,然后该音符通过固定的弦长比率与其他音符精确相关。
Because Pythagoras’s followers became involved in conflicts with local governments, the Pythagoreans should not be regarded as simply a wandering band of mathematicians. Their lives were based, in fact, on a religion full of rituals. They believed in immortality and the transmigration of souls, but at the heart of Pythagoreanism was the conception of the universe based on numbers. All aspects of life could be expressed in the form of numbers, proportions, geometry, and ratios. Marriage, for example, was given the number five as the union of the number three representing man and the number two representing woman. Although there were mystical aspects of the number system, the Pythagoreans attempted to use mathematics to quantify nature. A good example can be seen in their demonstration of musical harmony. They showed that the length of a string determined the note produced, and that note was then related exactly to other notes by fixed ratios of string length.
毕达哥拉斯学派发展了一种宇宙观,将宇宙分为三个领域。(见图1.2。)最不完美的乌拉诺斯是月下领域,或者地球球体。外层球体是奥林匹斯山,一个完美的王国,也是众神的家园。两者之间是宇宙,一个运动物体的球体。由于它由完美的球体和圆形所统治,因此行星和恒星以完美的圆周运动移动。“行星”一词源于希腊语,意为“流浪者”,它被用来识别这些不断移动的光点,这些光点相对于恒星和彼此的位置不断改变。行星包括月亮、太阳、水星、金星、火星、木星和土星。恒星绕轨道运行,彼此之间的位置不变,星座就是由此形成的。
The Pythagoreans developed a cosmology that divided the universe into three spheres. (See figure 1.2.) Uranos, the least perfect, was the sublunar realm or terrestrial sphere. The outer sphere was Olympos, a perfect realm and the home of the gods. Between these two was Cosmos, the sphere of moving bodies. Since it was governed by the perfection of spheres and circles, it followed that the planets and fixed stars moved with perfect circular motion. The word “planet” comes from the Greek for “wanderer,” and it was used to identify these spots of light that constantly moved and changed position against the fixed stars and relative to each other. The planets were the Moon, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The fixed stars orbited without changing their position relative to each other, and it was from these that the constellations were formed.
1.2毕达哥拉斯眼中的宇宙
1.2 THE UNIVERSE ACCORDING TO PYTHAGORAS
虽然这种安排在神学上令人满意,但它导致了希腊天文学最令人困惑的问题之一。完美圆周运动的哲学与观察结果不符。如果行星在三球宇宙的中心绕着地球旋转,它们应该表现出匀速运动——但事实并非如此。为了解决这个问题,毕达哥拉斯学派将地球移出球体中心,并创造了一个点——天火的所在地——作为匀速运动的中心。这使地球保持静止,并解决了行星速度和运动的观测变化问题。希望将地球保持在宇宙中心并保持圆周运动的完美性,这导致大多数后期希腊哲学家拒绝了毕达哥拉斯的解决方案。萨摩斯的阿里斯塔克斯(约公元前 310-230年)提出了一种彻底的解决方案来解决这个问题,他主张采用日心说模型,但他的想法没有得到太多支持,因为它们不仅违背了常识,而且与宗教和哲学对这一问题的权威相悖。
While this arrangement was theologically satisfying, it led to one of the most perplexing problems of Greek astronomy. The philosophy of perfect circular motion did not match observation. If the planets were orbiting the Earth at the center of the three-sphere universe, they should demonstrate uniform motion – and they did not. To resolve this problem, the Pythagoreans moved the Earth out of the center of the sphere and created a point – home to a celestial fire – that was the center of uniform motion. This kept the Earth motionless and resolved the issue of the observed variation in the velocity and motion of the planets. The desire to keep the Earth at the center of the universe and preserve the perfection of circular motion led most of the later Greek philosophers to reject the Pythagorean solution. A radical solution to this problem was proposed by Aristarchus of Samos (c. 310–230 BCE), who argued for a heliocentric (sun-centered) model, but his ideas gained little support because they not only violated common experience but ran against religious and philosophical authority on the issue.
最著名的几何关系之一来自毕达哥拉斯学派,尽管他们并没有创造它。这就是“毕达哥拉斯定理”,它将三角形斜边的长度与其边长联系起来。这种关系为埃及人和巴比伦人所熟知,可能来自测量和建筑。这种关系可以用于方便的用一根绳环标记 12 个相等的刻度,当在 1、4 和 8 标记处拉紧时,会形成一个 3-4-5 三角形和一个 90° 角。(见图1.3。)毕达哥拉斯学派使用几何证明来证明这种关系的基本原理。
One of the most famous geometric relations comes down to us from the Pythagoreans, although they did not create it. This is the “Pythagorean theorem” that relates the length of the hypotenuse of a triangle to its sides. This relationship was well known to the Egyptians and the Babylonians and probably came from surveying and construction. The relationship can be used in a handy instrument by taking a rope loop marked in 12 equal divisions that when pulled tight at the 1, 4, and 8 marks produces a 3–4–5 triangle and a 90° corner. (See figure 1.3.) The Pythagoreans used geometric proof to demonstrate the underlying principle of this relationship.
1.3利用勾股关系创建直角
1.3 USING THE PYTHAGOREAN RELATION TO CREATE A RIGHT ANGLE
一根绳子上有 12 个均匀分布的结,当在 1、4 和 8 处拉动时,会在 4 处形成直角。埃及人知道这种简单的装置,并将其用于测量和建筑。
A rope with 12 evenly spaced knots when pulled at 1, 4, and 8 creates a right angle at 4. This simple device was known to the Egyptians and used for surveying and building.
尽管由数字组成的世界具有神秘的一面,但毕达哥拉斯思想的基础将自然现象的本质置于物体本身之中。换句话说,世界之所以如此运转,是因为世界物体的内在性质,而不是通过不可知的超自然力量的干预。理想形式,尤其是圆形和球体等几何物体,作为宇宙的隐藏上层建筑而存在,但它们可以被揭示,它们不是由神随意创造或改变的。
Despite the mystical aspects of a world composed of number, the foundation of Pythagorean thought places the essential aspects of natural phenomena within the objects themselves. In other words, the world works the way it does because of the intrinsic nature of the objects in the world and not through the intervention of unknowable supernatural agents. Ideal forms, especially geometric objects such as circles and spheres, existed as the hidden superstructure of the universe, but they could be revealed, and they were not capriciously created or changed by the gods.
毕达哥拉斯学派对一致且内在驱动的自然的追求程度可以从“不可通约性”所造成的问题中看出。不可通约性指的是没有共同度量或不能用整数比例表示的事物,例如 2:3 或 4:1。毕达哥拉斯学派认为,所有自然都可以用可以简化为整数关系的比例和比率来表示,但某些关系无法以这种方式表达。特别是,正方形对角线与边之间的关系不能用整数比来表示,例如 1:2 或 3:7。如图 1.4所示,这种关系可以用几何形式表示,但算术答案在哲学上是不可接受的,因为它需要 1:√2 的比例,而这不能用整数关系来表示。没有平方数可以细分为两个相等的平方数,在 √2 的情况下,该数字也无法完全计算出来。1据传说,发现该问题的毕达哥拉斯学派的希帕普斯 (Hippapus) 被毕达哥拉斯从船边扔了下去,以保守不可通约性的秘密。
The degree to which the Pythagoreans desired a consistent and intrinsically driven nature can be seen in the problem created by “incommensurability,” referring to things that had no common measure or could not be expressed as whole number proportions such as 2:3 or 4:1. The Pythagoreans argued that all nature could be represented by proportions and ratios that could be reduced to whole-number relationships, but certain relationships cannot be expressed this way. In particular, the relationship between the diagonal and the side of a square cannot be expressed as a ratio of integers such as 1:2 or 3:7. As figure 1.4 demonstrates, the relationship can be shown geometrically, but the arithmetic answer was not philosophically acceptable since it required a ratio of 1:√2, which could not be expressed as an integer relation. No squared number could be subdivided into two equal square numbers, nor in the case of √2 can the number be completely calculated.1 According to legend, the Pythagorean Hippapus, who discovered the problem, was thrown off the side of a ship by Pythagoras to keep incommensurability secret.
1.4毕达哥拉斯关系的几何证明
1.4 GEOMETRIC DEMONSTRATION OF THE PYTHAGOREAN RELATIONSHIP
大正方形 1-2-3-4 由与小正方形 1–2 和 3–4 相等的三角形组成。这表明斜边 C 的平方等于边 A 和边 B 的平方和。
The large square 1-2-3-4 is made up of the triangle equal to the small squares 1–2 and 3–4. This demonstrates that the square of the hypotenuse C is equal to the sum of the squares of the sides A and B.
两个实际问题加剧了希腊数学的问题。希腊人不使用十进制或占位符算术系统,而是使用字母来表示数字。这使得计算和更复杂的数学形式变得困难。此外,尽管希腊人,尤其是毕达哥拉斯学派是极其强大的几何学家,但他们没有代数系统,证明也不基于“求解未知数”。几何证明是为了避免未知量而创建的。希腊数学的这两个方面限制了可以解决的问题范围,并可能鼓励他们专注于几何学。
The problems of Greek mathematics were compounded by two practical issues. The Greeks did not use a decimal or placeholder system of arithmetic but used letters to represent numbers. This made calculations and more complex forms of mathematics difficult. In addition, even though the Greeks and the Pythagoreans in particular were extremely powerful geometers, they did not have a system of algebra, and proofs were not based on “solving for unknowns.” Geometric proofs were created to avoid unknown quantities. These two aspects of Greek mathematics put limits on the range of problems that could be addressed and probably encouraged their concentration on geometry.
当爱奥尼亚人研究世界的物质结构,毕达哥拉斯学派专注于数学和几何形式时,希腊思想家们也在研究自然的另一个方面。这就是变化的问题。运动、生长、衰败,甚至思想都是自然的方面,既不是物质也不是形式。没有对变化现象的解释,自然哲学就不完整。站在这个问题两端的是以弗所的赫拉克利特(约公元前 550-475 年)和埃利亚的巴门尼德(公元前480 年)赫拉克利特认为一切都在变化,自然处于不断变化的状态,而巴门尼德则认为变化是一种假象。
While the Ionians investigated the material structure of the world and the Pythagoreans concentrated on the mathematical and geometric forms, another aspect of nature was being investigated by Greek thinkers. This was the issue of change. Motion, growth, decay, and even thought are aspects of nature that are neither matter nor form. No philosophy of nature could be complete without an explanation of the phenomenon of change. At the two extremes of the issue were Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 550–475 BCE) and Parmenides of Elea (fl. 480 BCE). Heraclitus argued that all was change and that nature was in a constant state of flux, while Parmenides asserted that change was an illusion.
赫拉克利特的哲学基于一个世界,这个世界包含着一种动态平衡,各种力量不断相互斗争。火是这个系统的核心,也是赫拉克利特眼中变化的伟大形象,它与水和土搏斗,彼此都试图毁灭对方。在一个岛屿、水和火山遍布的国度,这种现象有着一定的实用主义基础。赫拉克利特最著名的变化论据是,你不能两次踏入同一条河流。随着水流的流逝,河流的成分每时每刻都在发生变化,但从更深层次的意义上讲,你和河流一样在变化,只有思想的连续性才能给人恒定的错觉。
Heraclitus based his philosophy on a world that contained a kind of dynamic equilibrium of forces that were constantly struggling against each other. Fire, at the heart of the system and the great image of change for Heraclitus, battled water and earth, each trying to destroy the others. In a land of islands, water, and volcanoes, this had a certain pragmatic foundation. Heraclitus’s most famous argument for change was the declaration that you cannot step into the same river twice. Each moment, the river is different in composition as the water rushes past, but, in a more profound sense, you are as changed as the river and only the continuity of thought gives the illusion of constancy.
对于巴门尼德来说,变化是一种幻觉。他认为变化是不可能的,因为它需要有从无中产生或存在变为非存在。由于逻辑上不可能无中生有(否则它就不会是无),因此不可能存在任何机制来改变世界的状态。
For Parmenides, change was an illusion. He argued that change was impossible since it would require something to arise from nothing or for being to become non-being. Since it was logically impossible for nothing to contain something (otherwise it would not have been nothing in the first place), there could be no mechanism to change the state of the world.
巴门尼德最著名的学生芝诺(活于公元前450 年)提出了一个著名的反对运动可能性的证明。他的证明被称为芝诺悖论,有多种形式,但本质上认为,要到达某个点,你必须先走完到该点距离的一半。要到达那个中点,你首先需要走完一半的距离(即全程的四分之一),因此需要走完八分之一、十六分之一等等。由于任何两个端点之间都有无数个中点,因此需要花费无限的时间才能走完整个距离,因此移动是不可能的。(见图1.5。)
Parmenides’s best-known pupil, Zeno (fl. 450 BCE), presented a famous proof against the possibility of motion. His proof, called Zeno’s paradox, comes in a number of forms but essentially argues that to reach a point, you must first cover half the distance to the point. To get to that halfway point, you would first need to cover half the distance (i.e., one-quarter of the full distance), and therefore one-eighth, one-sixteenth, and so on. Since there are an infinite number of halfway points between any two end points, it would take infinite time to cover the whole distance, making it impossible to move. (See figure 1.5.)
1.5芝诺悖论
1.5 ZENO’S PARADOX
由于跑步者从“A”跑到“B”的距离只有一半,因此他必须先跑完从“A 1 ”到“B”的距离,然后再跑完从“A 2 ”到“B”的距离的一半,以此类推。由于中途点有无数个,而从一点移动到另一点需要的时间是有限的(尽管跑完这段距离所需的时间非常短),因此从“A”跑到“B”需要的时间也是无限的。
As the runner covers half the distance from “A” to “B,” he must first cover the distance from “A1” to “B,” then half the distance from “A2” to “B,” and so on. Since there are an infinite number of halfway points, and it takes a finite amount of time to move from point to point (even though the time to cover the distance is very small), it will thus take an infinite amount of time to get from “A” to “B.”
我们现代人的看法似乎更倾向于赫拉克利特而非巴门尼德,但他们有一个共同的关注点。每位哲学家都试图建立一种基于世界内在或自然行为来理解世界事件的方法。他们还试图建立一种方法来确定某些知识是什么,就像爱奥尼亚人和毕达哥拉斯学派所做的那样。关于世界状况的陈述必须得到他人可以检验的证据的支持,而不依赖于特殊知识。他们提出的是认识论问题,即关于某人如何了解某事以及那个“某事”到底是什么的问题。希腊自然哲学家并没有将他们的问题框定为对神或超自然力量行为的探究,而是提出了这样的问题:我们周围的世界中什么是根本的,什么是次要的?思想家可以使用什么系统(外部启示)来确定什么是真,什么是假?在多大程度上应该信任感官?
Our modern perception seems to favor Heraclitus over Parmenides, but they share a common concern. Each philosopher was attempting to establish a method for understanding the events in the world based on the intrinsic or natural action of the world. They were also attempting, as the Ionians and the Pythagoreans did, to establish a method for determining what certain knowledge was. Statements about the condition of the world had to be supported by a proof that could be examined by others and did not rely on special knowledge. They were asking epistemological questions, that is, questions about how someone could come to know something and just what that “something” could be. The Greek natural philosophers did not frame their questions as inquiries into the behavior of gods or supernatural agents but rather asked such questions as: What in the world around us is fundamental and what is secondary? What system (outside revelation) can a thinker use to determine what is true and what is false? To what degree should the senses be trusted?
对于巴门尼德来说,感官完全不可信,只有逻辑才能产生真实或确定的知识。赫拉克利特起初似乎更相信感官,但事实上他得出了一个非常相似的结论。任何静止的表象,即使是像一块石头放在另一块石头上这样简单的事情,都是一种幻觉,只有逻辑才能让人明白自然界到底发生了什么。
For Parmenides, the senses were completely untrustworthy and only logic could produce true or certain knowledge. Heraclitus at first seemed to have more faith in the senses, but in fact he reached a very similar conclusion. Any appearance of stasis, even something as simple as one rock resting on another, is an illusion, and only logic can be relied upon to make clear what is actually happening in nature.
泰勒斯、毕达哥拉斯、赫拉克利特、巴门尼德等许多人的哲学思想汇聚在公元前 5 世纪雅典思想中心这群最强大的希腊思想家的著作中。苏格拉底 (公元前 470-399 年) 完全拒绝研究自然,认为它不值得哲学家去思考,并通过塑造无私奉献真理的形象建立了自然哲学的背景,帮助塑造了至今“真正的”知识分子形象。苏格拉底拒绝研究自然反映了知识精英对商人和手工业者阶层及其物质追求日益增长的蔑视。哲学应该超越日常世界的琐碎关注,哲学家们不应该从字面上和比喻上去弄脏自己的手。
The philosophical threads of Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, and many others came together in the work of the most powerful group of Greek thinkers, who were at the intellectual hub of Athens in the fifth century BCE. Socrates (470–399 BCE) established a context for natural philosophy by completely rejecting the study of nature as being largely unworthy of the philosopher’s thought and by creating the image of selfless dedication to the truth that helped form the image of the “true” intellectual to this very day. Socrates’s rejection of the study of nature mirrored the increasing disdain the intellectual elite felt for the merchant and craft class and their material concerns. Philosophy was supposed to be above the petty concerns of the day-to-day world, and philosophers were not, both literally and figuratively, to get their hands dirty.
对于苏格拉底来说,现实世界是理想的境界。由于物质世界中没有任何东西可以完美无缺,因此物质世界必须是次于理想。例如,虽然人们可以识别出一个美丽的人,但美的概念在观察之前就必须存在,否则我们就无法识别出这个人是美丽的。此外,虽然任何特定的美丽物质必然会褪色和腐烂,但美的概念却会继续存在。因此,它超越了物质世界,是永恒的。
For Socrates, the real world was the realm of the Ideal. Since nothing in the material world could be perfect, it followed that the material world must be secondary to the ideal. For example, while one could identify a beautiful person, the concept of beauty must have been present prior to the observation or we would be unable to recognize the person as beautiful. Further, while any particular beautiful material thing must necessarily fade and decay, the concept of beauty continues. It thus transcends the material world and is eternal.
这种唯心主义也适用于对物质世界结构的理解。任何实际的树之所以能被识别为树,只是因为它(不完美地)反映了“树性”的本质,或理想树的形式。这些理想形式对人类智力来说是可用的,因为人类有一个灵魂,将他们与完美境界联系起来。苏格拉底认为,正因为如此,我们实际上拥有了解事物如何运作的知识。通过巧妙的问题,这种天生的知识可以揭示出来,从这个过程中,我们得到了苏格拉底方法,这是一种教学形式,不是基于教师向学生提供信息,而是基于提出一系列问题,引导学生的思想正确理解主题。
This idealism also applied to the comprehension of the structure of the material world. Any actual tree was recognizable as a tree only because it reflected (imperfectly) the essence of “tree-ness,” or the form of the ideal tree. These ideal forms were available to the human intellect because humans had a soul that connected them to the perfect realm. Socrates believed that, because of this, we actually had within ourselves the knowledge to understand how things worked. With skillful questions, this innate knowledge could be revealed, and from this process we get the Socratic method, a form of teaching based not on the instructor giving information to the student but asking a series of questions that guides the student’s thoughts to the correct understanding of a topic.
苏格拉底的哲学使他质疑一切,包括雅典的政府。他被判败坏城里的年轻人,但他没有要求流放,而是选择了死亡。他喝了一剂毒芹药水,坚信自己将离开不完美、腐败的物质世界,走向完美的理想境界。
Socrates’s philosophy led him to question everything, including the government of Athens. He was convicted of corrupting the city’s youth, but rather than asking for exile, he chose death. He drank a potion of the poison hemlock, with the firm belief that he was leaving the imperfect, corrupt material world for the perfection of the Ideal realm.
苏格拉底没有留下任何书面材料,所以我们对他的教义的了解主要来自他最著名的学生柏拉图(公元前427-347 年)。柏拉图出生于雅典贵族家庭,他根据苏格拉底的思想写了一系列对话,这些对话很可能取材于实际讨论。尽管柏拉图的后期作品脱离了苏格拉底的根源,但他保留了理想形式的一般前提。柏拉图的另一位老师是毕达哥拉斯学派的昔兰尼的狄奥多罗斯,他教给了柏拉图数学唯心主义的重要性。虽然柏拉图接受理想的首要地位,但他在拒绝物质世界方面并没有像苏格拉底那样走得那么远。
Socrates left no written material, so what we know of his teachings largely comes to us from his most famous pupil, Plato (427–347 BCE). The son of an aristocratic Athenian family, Plato wrote a series of dialogues based on Socrates’s ideas and likely drawn from actual discussions. Although Plato’s later work shifted away from its Socratic roots, he preserved the general premise of Ideal forms. One of Plato’s other teachers was Theodorus of Cyrene, a Pythagorean, who taught him the importance of mathematical idealism. Although Plato accepted the primacy of the Ideal, he did not go as far as Socrates in his rejection of the material world.
柏拉图的主要兴趣是伦理和政治。在他最著名的作品《理想国》中,他探讨了他所认为的理想社会和社会组织问题。他确实引入了自然哲学,但它处于较低的考虑范围,主要用作考虑宇宙基本结构的工具。在《理想国》第七卷的洞穴寓言中,柏拉图认为人们就像黑暗洞穴中的囚犯,从小就只能看到一种奇怪的影子游戏。因为囚犯没有其他参照物,所以阴影被认为是现实。为了看到现实,囚犯必须解放自己,在阳光下审视现实世界。在这个故事中,柏拉图认为我们通过感官感知到的是一种幻觉,但逻辑和哲学可以揭示真相。他在《蒂迈欧篇》中更详细地探讨了物质世界,提出了土、水、空气和火这四种陆地元素的系统。超月界或天界由一种完美的物质以太构成,并由一套不同的物理规则统治。这个系统得到了希腊哲学家的普遍认可,并成为自然哲学的公理之一。
Plato’s primary interests were ethical and political. In his most famous work, The Republic, he explored what he considered ideal society and the problems of social organization. He did introduce natural philosophy, but it was in a lower realm of consideration and used mostly as a tool for consideration of the underlying structure of the cosmos. In the allegory of the cave, found in Book VII of The Republic, Plato argued that people are like prisoners in a dark cave who, from childhood, see only a strange kind of shadow play. Because the prisoners have no other reference, the shadows are taken to be reality. To see reality, the prisoners must free themselves and look upon the real world under the light of the Sun. In this story, Plato argued that what we perceive through our senses is an illusion, but logic and philosophy can reveal the truth. The material world was explored in more detail in his Timaeus, where he presented a system of the four terrestrial elements of earth, water, air, and fire. The supralunar or celestial realm was made of a perfect substance, the ether, and was governed by a different set of physical rules. This system gained general acceptance among Greek philosophers and became one of the axioms of natural philosophy.
与他的老师苏格拉底不同,柏拉图并不满足于在集市上宣扬他的哲学。解决社会问题的办法是教育,也就是培养学生基于逻辑的哲学和对理想知识的追求。为此,柏拉图于公元前385 年创办了一所学校。这所学校建在雅典英雄阿卡德莫斯曾经拥有的土地上,被称为学院。它没有现代学校的正式结构,但在许多方面,它是高等教育概念的基础。已经接受过修辞和几何等学科基本原理辅导的学生来到学院,在资深哲学家的指导下,在一种研讨会氛围中进行讨论和辩论。
Plato, unlike his teacher Socrates, was not content to espouse his philosophy in the agora. The solution to the problems of society was education, which meant training students in a philosophy based on logic and a pursuit of knowledge of the Ideal. To this end, Plato founded a school in 385 BCE. Constructed on land once owed by the Athenian hero Academos, it became known as the Academy. It did not have the formal structure of modern schools, but in many ways it was the foundation for the concept of higher education. Students who had already been tutored in the basic principles of subjects such as rhetoric and geometry traveled to the Academy to engage in discussion and debate under the auspices of a more senior philosopher in a kind of seminar atmosphere.
柏拉图最著名的学生是亚里士多德 (公元前384-322 年)。亚里士多德是一位杰出的思想家,他原本希望在柏拉图去世后成为学院的院长,但这个职位没有得到他的青睐,而是传给了柏拉图的表兄斯珀西帕斯,人们对他知之甚少。亚里士多德对未能如愿感到失望,于是离开雅典向北旅行。公元前343 年,他成为马其顿国王腓力二世之子亚历山大的家庭教师。腓力二世死后,亚历山大成为马其顿人的领袖,并着手统一 (即征服) 全希腊。完成这一目标后,他开始征服世界其他地区。在亚历山大大帝的支持下,亚里士多德回到雅典,并于公元前334 年建立了一所与之竞争的学校 - 吕塞姆学院。这所学校有时被称为逍遥学派,因为教师和学者是在街区散步时完成工作。
Plato’s most famous student was Aristotle (384–322 BCE). A brilliant thinker, Aristotle had expected to become the head of the Academy when Plato died, but this position was denied him, going instead to Plato’s cousin Speusippas, of whom little is known. Disappointed at having been passed over, Aristotle left Athens and traveled north. In 343 BCE he became the tutor to Alexander, son of Philip II, King of Macedon. When Philip died, Alexander became the leader of the Macedonians and proceeded to unify (that is, conquer) all of Greece. Once that was accomplished, he set out to conquer the rest of the world. With the patronage of Alexander the Great, Aristotle returned to Athens and founded a rival school, the Lyceum, in 334 BCE. It was sometimes called the peripatetic school because the instructors and scholars did their work while walking around the neighborhood.
亚里士多德并没有完全拒绝柏拉图的哲学,他认同逻辑的必要性和柏拉图唯心论的某些方面。然而,他对物质世界更感兴趣。虽然他同意柏拉图的观点,认为世界是不纯洁的,我们的感官是会出错的,但他辩称,感官实际上是我们拥有的一切。我们的智力只能应用于我们对周围世界的观察。以此为基础,亚里士多德着手创建一个完整的自然哲学体系。这是一个强大且极其成功的项目。
Aristotle did not reject all of Plato’s philosophy, sharing a belief in the necessity of logic and some aspects of Platonic Idealism. He was, however, far more interested in the material world. Although he agreed with Plato that the world was impure and our senses fallible, he argued that they were actually all we had. Our intellect could be applied only to what we observed of the world around us. With this as a basis, Aristotle set out to create a complete system of natural philosophy. It was a powerful and extremely successful project.
亚里士多德体系的核心是两个基本思想。第一个是提供对自然物体的完整描述的体系。第二个是验证知识的体系,这种体系可以满足说服生活在竞争甚至诉讼社会中的人们的必要证据要求。这两个组成部分的结合产生了希腊自然哲学的顶峰。亚里士多德哲学的任何方面都不依赖于超自然干预,只有一个实体,即不动的推动者,存在于内在或自然作用体系之外。
At the heart of Aristotle’s system were two fundamental ideas. The first was a system to provide a complete description of natural objects. The second was a system to verify knowledge that would satisfy the demands of proof necessary to convince people who lived in a competitive, even litigious, society. The combination of these two components produced the apex of Greek natural philosophy. No aspect of Aristotle’s philosophy depended on supernatural intervention, and only one entity, the unmoved mover, existed outside the system of intrinsic or natural action.
描述自然物体的第一步是识别和分类。亚里士多德是一位高级分类学家。他的大部分工作都是关于生物学的,除其他外,他根据我们所谓的爬行动物、两栖动物和哺乳动物的特征对其进行了分组,甚至将海豚与人类归为一类。他还观察了鸡蛋中雏鸟的发育情况,并试图理解有性生殖。
The first step in the description of natural objects was identification and classification. Aristotle was a supreme classifier. Much of his work was on biology, and among other things he grouped what we call reptiles, amphibians, and mammals by their characteristics, even grouping dolphins with humans. He also observed the development of chicks in hen eggs and tried to make sense of sexual reproduction.
亚里士多德的许多观察都很敏锐,但他将这些观察视为对表面区别的考察;哲学家的工作是超越这些次要特征,寻找自然的根本结构。要做到这一点,必须确定自然的哪些方面不能简化为更简单的组成部分。最简单的物质成分是四种元素,地球上的所有物质对象都是由这四种物质组成的。物体之间的表面区别是由于构成世界物体的元素的比例和数量不同造成的。
As astute as many of his observations were, Aristotle saw them as an examination of a level of superficial distinction; it was the job of the philosopher to look beyond these secondary characteristics and seek the underlying structure of nature. To do this, it was necessary to determine what aspects of nature could not be reduced to simpler components. The simplest material components were the four elements, and all material objects in the terrestrial realm were composed of these four substances. The superficial distinction between objects was the result of the different proportions and quantities of the elements that made up the objects in the world.
元素本身不足以解释物质的组织和行为。物质似乎还具有四种不可简化的特性,亚里士多德将其定义为热/冷和湿/干。这些特性在所有物质中始终成对存在(热/湿、冷/湿、热/干、冷/干),但与材料无关。一个粗略的类比是比较篮球和保龄球的弹跳。篮球和保龄球的弹跳程度非常不同,取决于各自的材质,但这两个球的“弹跳度”可以与构成这两种球的材料研究分开来研究。
The elements by themselves were not sufficient to account for the organization and behavior of matter. Matter also seemed to have four irreducible qualities, which Aristotle identified as hot/cool and wet/dry. These were always present as pairs (hot/wet, cool/wet, hot/dry, cool/dry) in all matter, but were separate from the material. A loose analogy would be to compare the bounce of a basketball and a bowling ball. The degree of bounce of a basketball and a bowling ball are very different and depend on the material that each is made of, but the “bounciness” of the two balls can be studied separately from the study of the materials that compose the two types of ball.
虽然四要素和四品质可以描述组成事物的物质和品质,但它们并不能解释事物是如何形成的。为此,亚里士多德确定了四个原因:形式、物质、效率和最终。事物的形式原因是计划或模型,而物质原因是用于创造物体的“材料”。效率原因是导致物体产生的动因事物产生的根本原因是事物存在的目的或必要条件。
While the four elements and the four qualities could describe the matter and quality of composed things, they did not explain how a thing came to be. For this, Aristotle identified four causes: formal, material, efficient, and final. The formal cause of a thing was the plan or model, while the material cause was the “stuff” used to create the object. The efficient cause was the agent that caused the object to come into being, and the final cause was the purpose or necessary condition that led to the object’s creation.
考虑一下花园周围的石墙。石墙的形式因是其规划和图纸。没有详细标明尺寸的规划,就不可能知道建造石墙需要多少石头。石墙的物质因是石头和砂浆。这些材料对完成的墙施加了某些限制;也许可以绘制一个 30 米高、底部只有 20 厘米宽的墙的规划图,但这样的墙在现实中是无法建造的。有效因是石匠;同样,由于石匠的能力有限,墙也会受到某些限制。最终因是建造石墙的原因——例如,为了不让邻居的山羊进入我们的花园。
Consider a stone wall around a garden. The formal cause of the wall is its plans and drawings. Without a plan detailing dimensions, it is impossible to know how much stone will be required to build it. The material cause of the wall is the stones and mortar. These materials impose certain restrictions on the finished wall; it might be possible to draw a plan for a 30-meter-high wall with a base only 20 centimeters wide, but such a wall cannot be constructed in reality. The efficient cause is the stonemason; again, certain restrictions will be imposed on the wall by the limits of the mason’s abilities. The final cause is the reason to build the wall – to keep the neighbor’s goat out of our garden, for example.
虽然亚里士多德和柏拉图的四要素概念可以简化为一种具有几何结构的粒子模型(例如,火是由三角形组成),但总的来说,他们将要素视为连续的物质。这种观点受到了伊壁鸠鲁学派的挑战,他们提出了一种更加唯物主义的自然模型。哲学家伊壁鸠鲁(公元前342-271 年)和柏拉图一样,来自雅典贵族家庭。他创立了被称为伊甸园的哲学流派,并复兴了早期哲学家德谟克利特(公元前 460 年 -公元前370 年)的著作。德谟克利特主张从唯物主义的角度理解宇宙,而伊壁鸠鲁学派则将世界描绘成由无数(但不是无限)个不可毁灭的原子构成。物质的外观和行为基于粒子不同的大小、形状和位置。
Although Aristotle and Plato’s conception of the four elements could be reduced to a kind of particle model with a geometric structure (fire, for example, was composed of triangles), in general they treated the elements as a continuous substance. This view was challenged by the Epicureans, who proposed an even more materialistic model of nature. The philosopher Epicurus (342–271 BCE), like Plato, was from an aristocratic Athenian family. He founded a philosophical school known as the Garden and revived the work of an earlier philosopher, Democritus (c. 460– c. 370 BCE). Democritus had argued for a materialistic understanding of the universe, and the Epicureans pictured the world as constructed of an innumerable (but not infinite) number of atoms that were indestructible. The appearance and behavior of matter were based on the varying size, shape, and position of the particles.
伊壁鸠鲁自然哲学是机械论最强的希腊哲学。除了挑战自然的物质基础之外,伊壁鸠鲁学派还挑战了通往自然知识的道路,认为知识只能来自感官。由于自然知识不需要逻辑或数学的智力提炼,因此它是对所有人开放的知识,而不仅仅是博学的人。这种对感官知识的信仰使伊壁鸠鲁学派被誉为感官主义者,这在后来被犹太、伊斯兰教和基督教学者攻击为无神论和颓废主义时并没有起到帮助作用。尽管后来的神学思想家怀疑所有的希腊哲学,但亚里士多德的体系比伊壁鸠鲁学派更容易修改,因为它最终依赖于可以归因于上帝的公理。因此,伊壁鸠鲁思想在很大程度上受到谴责或忽视,直到 17 世纪,它才因其原原子模型而成为现代物质研究的基础。因此,它被视为现代化学的古代前身。
Epicurean natural philosophy was the most mechanistic Greek philosophy. In addition to challenging the material foundation of nature, the Epicureans also challenged the path to knowledge of nature, arguing that knowledge could only come from the senses. Because knowledge of nature did not require the intellectual refinement of logic or mathematics, it was knowledge open to all, not just learned men. This belief in knowledge from the senses contributed to the reputation of the Epicureans as sensualists, which did not help the philosophy when it was attacked as atheistic and decadent by Jewish, Islamic, and Christian scholars in later years. Although there was suspicion of all Greek philosophy by later theological thinkers, Aristotle’s system was more easily revised than the Epicurean because it ultimately depended on axioms that could be ascribed to God. Thus, Epicurean thought was largely condemned or ignored until the seventeenth century when it gained a titular place as the foundation of modern studies of matter because of its proto-atomic model. Thus, it is seen as the ancient precursor to modern chemistry.
亚里士多德体系中物质的三个基本方面(元素、性质和原因)不能自行组合成宇宙;要使一切结合在一起,就必须有变化和运动。运动有两种。第一种是自然运动,是物质的固有属性。在陆地领域,所有元素都有一个自然球体,它们试图通过直线运动回到它们的自然位置。然而,由于世界上许多物体都是这四种元素的混合物,自然运动受到各种限制。例如,一棵树以某种比例包含所有四种元素,但它以某种方式生长,根部向下,因为土元素想要向下,而树冠向上生长,因为空气和火元素试图向上。
The three fundamental aspects of matter (elements, qualities, and causes) in the Aristotelian system cannot assemble themselves into the universe; to bring everything together there must be change and motion. There are two kinds of motion. The first, natural motion, is an inherent property of matter. In the terrestrial realm all elements have a natural sphere, and they attempt to return to their natural place by moving in a straight line. However, because many objects in the world are mixtures of the four elements, natural motion is restrained in various ways. A tree, for example, contains all four elements in some proportion, but it grows a certain way with the roots going down because the earth element wants to go down while the crown grows up as its air and fire elements try to go up.
柏拉图和亚里士多德接受了毕达哥拉斯的观点,认为天体中的物质是完美的,其固有的自然运动也是完美的,以均匀不变的圆圈运动,这是完美的几何图形。因此,亚里士多德天文学要求太空中的物体按照这一原则运动。虽然对于大多数可以观察到的物体(例如太阳、月亮和星星)来说,这是一个合理的假设,但它给后来的天文学家带来了问题。(见图1.6。)
Plato and Aristotle accepted the Pythagorean idea that the matter in the celestial realm was perfect and that its inherent natural motion was also perfect, traveling in a uniform and immutable circle, which was the perfect geometric figure. Aristotelian astronomy thus required the objects in space to move according to this dictum. While this was a reasonable assumption for most of the objects that could be observed, such as the Sun, Moon, and stars, it created problems for later astronomers. (See figure 1.6.)
1.6亚里士多德的宇宙
1.6 THE ARISTOTELIAN COSMOS
其他形式的运动,尤其是运动,需要将运动引入宇宙。为此,亚里士多德追溯了从观察到起源的运动链。任何运动的东西都有一个推动者,但那个推动者必须有东西推动它,等等。以射箭的弓箭手为例。我们看到一支箭在空中飞翔,我们可以观察到是弓的移动推动了箭。弓箭手通过肌肉的运动使弓移动,而肌肉是射手的意志使物体移动。心灵思考(这也是一种运动)是因为灵魂的存在,身体的存在是因为它是运动员父母的产物。出生和成长也是运动的形式。射手的父母是由祖父母创造的,等等。为了防止这种情况变成完全无限的倒退,必须有一个点,在这个点上,物体被移动,而没有被先前的物体移动。这就是不动的推动者。从某种意义上说,不动的推动者通过单一的意志行为启动了巨大的行动链,从而启动了宇宙中的运动。
Other forms of motion, particularly locomotion, required motion to be introduced to the universe. For this, Aristotle traced a chain of motion back from observation to origin. Anything moving had a mover, but that mover had to have something moving it, and so on. Take as an example an archer shooting an arrow. We see an arrow fly through the air, and we can observe that it was the bow moving that moved the arrow. The archer makes the bow move by the motion of muscles, and the muscles are made to move by the will of the archer. The mind thinks (which is a kind of motion as well) because of a soul, and the body exists because it was the product of the athlete’s parents. Birth and growth are also forms of motion. The archer’s parents were created by the grandparents, and so on. To prevent this from becoming a completely infinite regress, there has to be some point at which a thing was moved without being moved itself by some prior thing. This is the unmoved mover. In a sense, the unmoved mover kick-started motion in the universe by starting the great chain of action by a single act of will.
让我们回到箭的飞行过程。只要弓与箭接触,我们就能看到是弓和肌肉在推动箭移动,但是什么让它在离开弓弦后继续移动呢?箭向地面的运动被其自然位置所掩盖,因为箭中沉重的土元素试图回到其正确的球体。亚里士多德认为,运动的延续与物体在移动时增加的运动有关。他得出结论,箭在穿过空气时受到撞击。箭将空气推离其自然位置,实际上是在前部压缩空气,并在后部形成一个稀薄或空旷的区域。空气在箭周围流动以恢复自然平衡,并在此过程中将箭向前撞击。由于空气抵抗从其自然位置移动,它最终会阻止箭向前飞行。(见图1.7。)
Let us return to the arrow as it flies along. As long as the bow is in contact with it, we can see that it is the bow and the muscles that are making it move, but what keeps it moving after it has left the bowstring? The aspect of its motion toward the ground is covered by its natural place as the heavy earth element of the arrow attempts to return to its proper sphere. The continuation of motion, Aristotle reasoned, had to have something to do with motion being added to the object as it moves. He concluded that the arrow was being bumped along by its very passage through the air. The arrow was pushing the air out of its natural place, in effect compressing it at the front and creating a rarefied or empty area at the back. The air rushed around the arrow to restore the natural balance and, in doing so, bumped the arrow ahead. Since the air resisted being moved from its natural place, it would eventually stop the forward flight of the arrow. (See figure 1.7.)
1.7亚里士多德的箭的运动
1.7 THE ARROW’S MOTION ACCORDING TO ARISTOTLE
箭在移动时与空气相互作用,继续其“不自然”的运动。这个系统可能看起来很笨拙,但它很可能是基于对水中运动的观察。划过水的桨似乎会压缩前表面的水(它显然会堆积起来),而漩涡和空隙似乎会在桨的后表面形成。然后,前部的水会冲到桨周围,填补后部的空间。
The arrow interacts with the air as it moves to continue its “unnatural” motion. This system may seem awkward, but it was likely based on observation of motion through water. An oar pulled through water seems to compress the water (it clearly mounds up) on the front surface, while eddies and voids seem to form around the back surface of the oar. The water in the front then rushes around the oar to fill in the space at the back.
亚里士多德的体系也认为,物体中元素的数量决定了它的运动速度。一支箭是由木头制成的,因此不含大量的土元素,它会在地面上保持运动比几乎完全由土元素组成的岩石下落得更快。这导致亚里士多德学派认为,如果将一块小石头和一块重量为小石头十倍的大石头一起下落,大石头下落的速度会比小石头快十倍。
It also followed from Aristotle’s system that the amount of element in an object governed its rate of motion. An arrow, constructed of wood and thus not containing a large amount of earth element, would stay in motion over the ground longer than a rock composed almost completely of earth element. This led Aristotelians to argue that if a small rock and a large rock weighing ten times as much were dropped together, the large rock would fall ten times faster than the small rock.
虽然了解物质和运动的结构很重要,但仅凭这些知识还不足以理解世界。部分原因是感官可能会被愚弄,而且并不完全准确,但也因为观察局限于外部世界,本身无法揭示支配自然的基本规则或结构。只有运用智力才能发现这些,而这就意味着逻辑。虽然亚里士多德一再回到逻辑这个主题,但他的逻辑最清楚地呈现在他关于这个主题的两部著作《后分析》和《前分析》中。他的逻辑系统的核心是三段论,它提供了一种证明关系并从而产生可靠或确定知识的方法。今天,我们继续使用三段论逻辑作为验证陈述可靠性的方法。最著名的三段论之一说:
While understanding the structure of matter and motion was important, such knowledge was not by itself sufficient to understand the world. This was, in part, because the senses could be fooled and were not entirely accurate, but it was also because observation was confined to the exterior world and could not by itself reveal the underlying rules or structure that governed nature. That could be discovered only by the application of the intellect, and that meant logic. While Aristotle returned to the subject of logic repeatedly, his logic was most clearly presented in his two works on the subject, the Posterior Analytics and the Prior Analytics. At the heart of his logical system was the syllogism, which offered a method to prove a relationship and thereby produce reliable or certain knowledge. We continue to use syllogistic logic today as a method of verifying the reliability of statements. One of the most famous syllogisms says:
| 大前提,由公理或先前确定的真实陈述推导而来。 |
| 小前提。这是正在调查的条件。 |
| 结论,根据前提推导出来。 |
三段论是确定逻辑连续性的有力工具,但它本身无法揭示一个陈述是否正确,因为可以构建错误但合乎逻辑的三段论。
The syllogism was a powerful tool to determine logical continuity, but it could not by itself reveal whether a statement is true, since false but logical syllogisms can be constructed.
第二个三段论与第一个三段论一样自洽,但由于大前提是假的,结论也是假的。公理“狗有三条腿”经不起观察或定义的检验,因此三段论不成立。因此,毫不奇怪,希腊哲学家花费了大量精力来发现和建立公理。公理是不可简化的、不证自明的真理。它们代表了世界运转所必须存在的条件,但要认识到这些条件却很困难。亚里士多德的结论是,公理只有得到所有学者的一致认可才能被认可,这与希腊的政治话语如出一辙。公理的一个例子是加法运算,它必须被接受为必要的数学运算,否则所有的算术都会崩溃。加法的性质不能分解为更简单的运算;另一方面,乘法可以分解为重复的加法,因此不是公理。
The second syllogism is as consistent as the first, but because the major premise is false, the conclusion is false. The axiom “dogs have three legs” does not stand the test of observation or definition, and so the syllogism fails. Thus, it is not surprising that Greek philosophers expended a great deal of effort on the discovery and establishment of axioms. Axioms were irreducible, self-evident truths. They represented conditions that must exist if the world was to function, but recognizing them was difficult. Aristotle concluded that axioms could be recognized only by the agreement of all learned men, which echoed Greek political discourse. An example of an axiom is the operation of addition, which must be accepted as a necessary mathematical operation or all of arithmetic collapses. The property of addition cannot be broken down into simpler operations; multiplication, on the other hand, can be broken down into repeated addition and is thus not axiomatic.
什么是公理以及如何确定公理陈述的问题一直是自然哲学和科学争论的焦点,部分原因是前几代人的公理经常成为新思想家研究和简化的目标。哲学和实践对公理的攻击有时会让一些学者不确定任何知识是否可靠,而这让其他学者,如勒内·笛卡尔 (1596-1650),开始寻找确定性的新基础。
The problem of what was axiomatic and how to be sure of axiomatic statements was at the center of debates over natural philosophy and science, in part because the axioms of previous generations often became the target of investigation and reduction for new thinkers. The philosophical and practical attacks on axioms at times made some scholars unsure whether any knowledge was reliable, while it set others, such as René Descartes (1596–1650), on a search for a new foundation of certainty.
亚里士多德体系的力量在于其广度和完整性。它将已经发展并经过哲学检验的思想(有些思想经过了数百年)与他自己的观察和逻辑工作相结合。它提出了一个几乎完全从内在推导出来的理解世界的体系。除了不动的推动者之外,他的体系的任何部分都不需要超自然的干预才能发挥作用,而且,它基于这样的信念:所有自然界的东西都可以被理解。自然的可理解性成为自然哲学的一个特征,使它有别于神学或形而上学等其他学科。
The power of Aristotle’s system was its breadth and completeness. It integrated the ideas that had been developed and philosophically tested, in some cases for several hundred years, with his own observations and work on logic. It presented a system for understanding the world that was almost completely intrinsically derived. With the exception of the unmoved mover, no part of his system required supernatural intervention to function, and further, it was based on the belief that all of nature could be understood. The comprehensibility of nature became one of the characteristics of natural philosophy that separated it from other studies such as theology or metaphysics.
亚里士多德的体系是观察和逻辑的大师级运用,但不包括实验。亚里士多德理解测试事物的概念,但他拒绝或不信任通过测试自然获得的知识,因为这种测试只显示被测试事物在测试中的表现,而不是在自然界中的表现。由于测试是一种非自然状态,它不是自然哲学方法的一部分,自然哲学的目的是了解事物的自然状态。人们很容易因为亚里士多德拒绝实验而指责他,但这会认为亚里士多德的目标一定与现代科学的目标相同。亚里士多德和现代科学的研究对象是自然以及自然如何运作,但对自然提出的问题形式却大不相同。亚里士多德和其他自然哲学家的核心问题之一是目的论的,他们问“自然运转的目的是什么?”他们认为只有通过观察和逻辑才能回答这个问题。
Aristotle’s system was a masterful use of observation and logic, but it did not include experimentation. Aristotle understood the concept of testing things, but he rejected or viewed with distrust knowledge gained by testing nature, because such tests only showed how the thing being tested acted in the test rather than in nature. Since testing was an unnatural condition, it was not part of the method of natural philosophy, which was to understand things in their natural state. It is tempting to find fault with Aristotle because of his rejection of experimentation, but this would be to argue that Aristotle’s objectives must have been the same as those of modern science. The object of study for Aristotle and modern science was nature and how nature functions, but the forms of the questions asked about nature were very different. One of the central questions for Aristotle and other natural philosophers was teleological, asking “To what end does nature work?” They assumed that only through observation and logic could this question be answered.
亚里士多德死后,学院和吕克昂学院继续成为哲学教育的主要中心,但希腊学术的中心开始转移到亚历山大。公元前307 年之后,埃及统治者托勒密一世(曾是亚历山大的将军之一)邀请被废黜的雅典独裁者德米特里厄斯·法勒隆迁往他的首都亚历山大,这一运动由此兴起。亚历山大是连接非洲、欧洲、中东和亚洲的理想贸易枢纽。德米特里厄斯建议托勒密建立文献收藏并建立缪斯神庙,缪斯是艺术和科学的赞助人。虽然缪斯神庙的确切建立时间和早期历史尚不清楚,但它后来变成了博物馆,我们现代对博物馆一词的使用就是从这里开始的。博物馆的一部分是图书馆,它变得越来越重要,最终在历史记忆中盖过了博物馆。亚历山大大图书馆最终收藏了最丰富的希腊文献,并成为雅典衰落后亚里士多德研究的主要宝库和教育中心。
After the death of Aristotle, both the Academy and the Lyceum continued to be major centers for philosophical education, but the heart of Greek scholarship began to shift to Alexandria. This movement was spurred after 307 BCE when the ruler of Egypt, Ptolemy I (who had been one of Alexander’s generals) invited Demetrius Phaleron, the deposed dictator of Athens, to move to his capital at Alexandria. Alexandria was an ideal location as a trade hub that linked Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Demetrius was credited with advising Ptolemy to establish a collection of texts and establish a temple to the Muses, who were the patrons of the arts and sciences. Although its exact founding and early history are unclear, the temple to the Muses became the Museum, from which our modern use of the term descends. Part of the Museum was the library, which became increasingly important and eventually overshadowed the Museum in historical recollection. The Great Library of Alexandria eventually housed the greatest collection of Greek texts and was the chief repository and education center for Aristotelian studies after the decline of Athens.
与博物馆有关的伟大人物之一是欧几里得 (约公元前 325 年 - 约公元前 265年)。2他最经久不衰的作品是《几何原本》,这是一部长达 13 卷的数学知识巨著。虽然《几何原本》中的大部分材料是对其他学者早期著作的概括,但有两个因素使它超越了数学百科全书。首先是证明的系统呈现,因此每个陈述都基于对之前内容的逻辑论证。这不仅使数学证明可靠,而且影响了当今数学和哲学思想的表达方法。这些证明基于一组公理,例如平行线不能相交或两条线相交形成的四个角是两对相等的角并且总和始终相等 360°。
One of the great figures to be associated with the Museum was Euclid (c. 325–c. 265 BCE).2 His most enduring work was the Elements, a monumental compilation of mathematical knowledge that filled 13 volumes. While the majority of the material in the Elements was a recapitulation of earlier works by other scholars, two factors raised it above a kind of mathematical encyclopedia. The first was the systematic presentation of proofs, so that each statement was based on a logical demonstration of what came before. This not only gave the mathematical proofs reliability but also influenced the method of presenting mathematical and philosophical ideas to the present day. These proofs were based on a set of axioms such as the statement that parallel lines cannot intersect or that the four angles created by the intersection of two lines are two pairs of equal angles and always equal 360° in total.
第二个因素是作品的范围。 《几何原本》汇集了希腊人所知的所有数学基础,是学者的宝贵资源,并成为重要的教育文本。它涵盖了几何定义和二维和三维几何图形的构造、算术运算、比例、包括无理数在内的数论以及包括圆锥曲线在内的立体几何。在所有手稿都必须手工抄写的时代,《几何原本》成为流传最广、最广为人知的文本之一。
The second factor was the scope of the work. By bringing together the foundation of all mathematics known to the Greeks, the Elements was a valuable resource for scholars and became an important educational text. It covered geometric definitions and construction of two- and three-dimensional geometric figures, arithmetic operations, proportions, number theory including irrational numbers, and solid geometry including conic sections. In a time when all manuscripts had to be copied by hand, the Elements became one of the most widely distributed and widely known texts.
希腊自然哲学以其哲学体系而闻名,但这些体系不应被视为脱离现实世界,也不应被视为一种无关的智力消遣。亚里士多德自然哲学的目的之一是让人们了解世界,而已知的世界是经过分类和测量的世界。昔兰尼的埃拉托色尼(约公元前 273 年 - 约公元前192 年)着手测量世界。埃拉托色尼是一位著名的博学者,涉足许多领域,尤其是数学,并于公元前240 年左右成为亚历山大博物馆的首席图书管理员。他将数学概念应用于地理,并想出了一种测量地球周长的方法。地球是一个球体,这一点希腊人早就知道,在亚里士多德的哲学中被视为公理,但精确测量却是一个挑战。埃拉托色尼推断,通过测量同时在两个不同纬度投射的阴影的角度差,他可以计算出周长。通过了解从地心到测量点的两条线所形成的角度以及两点在地表之间的距离,他能够确定该距离所占地球的比例。(见图1.8。)由此,计算整个地球的周长就变得轻而易举。他的答案是 250,000 斯塔德。长期以来,人们一直在争论这个测量结果到底有多准确,因为不清楚埃拉托色尼使用的斯塔德长度是多少,但这个结果大约是 46,250 公里,接近目前赤道测量的 40,075 公里。
Greek natural philosophy was most notable for its philosophical systems, but those systems should not be seen as being removed from the real world or as some kind of irrelevant intellectual pastime. One of the purposes of Aristotelian natural philosophy was to make the world known, and a known world was a classified and measured world. Eratosthenes of Cyrene (c. 273–c. 192 BCE) set out to measure the world. Eratosthenes was a famous polymath who worked in many fields, especially mathematics, and who became the chief librarian of the Museum in Alexandria about 240 BCE. He applied his concepts of mathematics to geography and came up with a method to measure the circumference of the Earth. That the Earth was a sphere was long understood by the Greeks and was taken as axiomatic in Aristotle’s philosophy, but an accurate measurement was a challenge. Eratosthenes reasoned that by measuring the difference in the angle of a shadow cast at two different latitudes at the same moment, he could calculate the circumference. By knowing the angle formed by the two lines radiating from the center of the Earth to the measuring points and the distance between the two points at the surface, he was able to determine the proportion of the globe that distance represented. (See figure 1.8.) From this, it was a simple matter to calculate the circumference of the whole globe. His answer was 250,000 stadia. There has long been an argument about just how accurate this measurement was, since it is not clear what length of stadia Eratosthenes was using, but it works out to about 46,250 kilometers, which is close to the current measurement of 40,075 kilometers at the equator.
1.8埃拉托斯特尼的地球测量
1.8 ERATOSTHENES’S MEASUREMENT OF THE EARTH
当太阳出现在赛尼井底的镜子中时,它的光线与地球形成 90º 角。与此同时,亚历山大港一座塔楼投射的阴影与地球形成 7 1/5º 角。然后可以使用简单的几何关系将其映射到地球上。
When the Sun appears in the mirror at the bottom of the well at Syene, its light forms a 90º angle with the Earth. At the same moment, a shadow cast by a tower at Alexandria has an angle of 7 1/5º. This can then be mapped onto the Earth using simple geometric relationships.
α = 7 1/5º = 圆周长的 1/50(360º)
50 x 800 公里(塞伊尼和亚历山大之间的距离)= 40,000 公里
α = 7 1/5º = 1/50 of the circumference of a circle (360º)
50 x 800 kilometers (distance between Syene and Alexandria) = 40,000 kilometers
希腊人的知识遗产,尤其是亚里士多德和柏拉图的遗产,是深远的,但他们的贡献不仅仅是思想。希腊人还帮助塑造了哲学家的形象,这种形象以各种形式延续至今。早在学生学到足以理解哲学家复杂思想的知识之前,他们就已经接触到了这种形象。阿基米德(约公元前 287-212 年)的故事比苏格拉底接受死亡更为著名,它塑造了哲学家的文化观。
The intellectual heritage of the Greeks, particularly that of Aristotle and Plato, was profound, but it was not solely their thought that they contributed. The Greeks also helped to create the image of the philosopher, an image that persists in various forms to the present day. Long before students have learned enough to comprehend the complex ideas of the philosophers, they have been exposed to the image. Even more famous than Socrates accepting death, the story of Archimedes (c. 287–212 BCE) has shaped the cultural view of philosophers.
阿基米德一生大部分时间生活在锡拉丘兹。他可能去过亚历山大,在博物馆跟随欧几里得老师学习;很明显,在他后来的职业生涯中,他认识那里的数学家并与他们通信。阿基米德的成就之一是确定了圆周率的数值——将圆的周长、直径和面积联系起来——然后将这项工作扩展到球体。他建立了流体静力学的研究,研究了流体,询问物体为什么会漂浮,以及排开的流体与重量之间的关系。这归结为我们阿基米德原理:浸入流体中的物体受到的浮力等于物体排开的流体的重量。阿基米德还通过几何证明确定了杠杆定律。
Archimedes lived most of his life in Syracuse. He may have traveled to Alexandria and studied with Euclidean teachers at the Museum; it is clear that later in his career he knew and corresponded with mathematicians there. Among his accomplishments Archimedes determined a number for pi – relating the circumference, diameter, and area of a circle – and then extended this work to spheres. He established the study of hydrostatics, investigating the displacement of fluids, asking why things float, and the relationship between displaced fluids and weight. This has come down to us as Archimedes’s principle that a body immersed in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the body. Archimedes also determined the laws of levers through geometric proof.
阿基米德的数学和哲学著作可能非常伟大,但正是围绕着他的传奇故事才使他成为令人难忘的人物。他的工作不仅限于智力研究,他还创造了机械装置。其中最主要的是他建造的战争机器,用于在第二次布匿战争期间保卫锡拉库扎免受罗马人的侵袭。这些机器包括各种弹道武器和用于驱逐船只停靠的机器。虽然阿基米德螺旋桨(由一个用于提升水的旋转螺旋管组成)不是他的发明,但他的名字却与它联系在一起,因为他可能会发明这种东西。
As powerful as Archimedes’s mathematics and philosophical work might have been, it was the legends that grew up around him that made him a memorable figure. His work was not confined to intellectual research, since he also created mechanical devices. Chief among these were the war machines he built to help defend Syracuse from the Romans during the Second Punic War. These included various ballistic weapons and machines to repel ships from docking. Although Archimedes did not invent Archimedes’s screw (which consists of a rotating spiral tube used to lift water), his name was attached to it as the kind of thing he would have invented.
关于阿基米德发明燃烧镜或使用抛光盾牌利用太阳反射光点燃罗马船只的著名故事,是在他去世后很久才流传出来的神话。尽管理论上可行,但大多数现代燃烧镜的再现都表明,这充其量是不切实际的,需要罗马船只在相当长的一段时间内保持静止,而且罗马人直到火势大到足以造成重大损失时才会注意到。
The famous story about Archimedes inventing burning mirrors or using polished shields to set fire to Roman ships using the reflected light of the Sun was a myth created long after his death. Although theoretically possible, most modern recreations of the burning mirrors have shown that it would have been at best impractical, requiring the Roman ships to remain still for a significant period, and having no Roman notice the fire until it was large enough to have done significant damage.
阿基米德在浴缸中的故事是这位哲学家一生中最著名的故事。锡拉库扎国王希罗担心他给工匠制作王冠的黄金中掺了价值较低的金属,但王冠制作完成后,如何发现这种造假行为呢?阿基米德本应在公共浴室中解决这个问题,因为他意识到这是一个流体静力学问题。由于黄金的密度较大,因此黄金置换的水量比同等重量的银要少。他从浴缸中跳出,赤身裸体地跑过城市,大喊“尤里卡!”,意思是“我找到了”。没有历史记录表明发生过这样的事情,而且使用阿基米德可用的工具很难使用置换法,但他可以很容易地使用流体静力学天平(他曾撰写并使用过的一种装置)来解决这个问题。
Archimedes in the bath is the best-known tale from the philosopher’s life. Hiero, the king of Syracuse, was concerned that the gold he had given craftsmen to make a crown had been adulterated with less valuable metal, but once the crown was made, how could the fraud be detected? Archimedes was supposed to have solved the problem while in the public baths when he realized that it was a hydrostatic problem. The gold would displace less water than a similar weight of silver because the gold was denser. He leaped from the bath and ran naked through the city, exclaiming “Eureka!” meaning “I have found it.” No historical record exists that this happened, and it would have been difficult to use the displacement method with the tools available to Archimedes, but he could easily have solved this problem using a hydrostatic balance, a device that he wrote about and used.
阿基米德的死也成为了一个传奇故事。普鲁塔克(公元 45-120 年)在《普鲁塔克名人传》中讲述了这样一个故事:
Archimedes’s death also became the stuff of legend. Plutarch (45–120 CE) tells the story in Plutarch’s Lives:
当时,阿基米德正专心致志地用图表解决某个问题,他的脑子和眼睛都盯着他所思考的问题,他根本没有注意到罗马人的入侵,也没有注意到这座城市已经被攻占。在这种研究和思考的兴奋中,一名士兵,突然走到他面前,命令他跟随马凯勒斯;马凯勒斯拒绝这样做,因为他没有在示威游行之前解决问题,士兵怒不可遏,拔出剑刺穿了他。3
Archimedes, who was then, as fate would have it, intent upon working out some problem by a diagram, and having fixed in his mind alike and his eyes upon the subject of his speculation, he never noticed the incursion of the Romans, nor that the city had been taken. In this transport of study and contemplation, a soldier, unexpectedly coming up to him, commanded him to follow to Marchellus; which he declining to do before he had worked out his problem to a demonstration, the soldier, enraged, drew his sword and ran him through.3
这些传说是否基于真实事件并不重要,重要的是它们所代表的理想学者形象。虽然阿基米德的历史形象从心不在焉的哲学家到行动派,再到伽利略所说的“神圣的阿基米德”,但真正的哲学家的形象是超越世俗关注或个人私利的人。他无私,专注于学习,排除一切,也许有点不关心社会。虽然阿基米德制造机械装置,因此也与工程师有联系,但他对哲学的兴趣远大于对此类装置的关注。他成为了一位优秀科学家的典范,既能从事理论项目,也能从事实践项目。虽然亚里士多德和柏拉图可以被尊为伟大的智者,但他们似乎有点遥远和枯燥,总是从理论家的角度看大局,而阿基米德则是现代实验主义者更舒适的榜样。
Whether the legends are based on actual events is less important than the image of the ideal scholar they have come to represent. While the historical image of Archimedes has ranged from absent-minded philosopher to man of action to the “Divine Archimedes” as Galileo called him, the image of the true philosopher is that of a person above mundane concerns or personal self-interest. He is selfless, absorbed in study to the exclusion of all else, and perhaps a touch socially unaware. While Archimedes made mechanical devices and thus has also been associated with engineers, he was far more interested in philosophy than such contrivances. He became the exemplar of a good scientist who can turn his hand to both theoretical and practical projects. While Aristotle and Plato can be revered as great intellects, they seem a bit distant and dry, always theorists looking at the big picture, while Archimedes is a much more comfortable role model for the modern experimentalist.
1901 年,在沉没于希腊安提基西拉岛附近的一艘罗马货船的残骸中发现了一个神秘的机械装置。这艘船可能沉没于公元前70 年左右。虽然可以看到一些轮子和一些通用希腊语文字,但其余部分已被严重腐蚀,直到 1971 年拍摄 X 射线和伽马射线图像后才能确定它的用途和功能。科学史学家德里克·德·索拉·普莱斯和物理学家查拉兰波斯·卡拉卡洛斯透露,安提基西拉装置是一种极其复杂的模拟计算机,旨在计时和绘制太阳、月亮和已知行星的位置。后来对该装置的研究表明,它还能指示奥林匹克运动会、地峡运动会、尼米亚运动会和皮提亚运动会以及鲜为人知的纳安运动会和哈利厄斯运动会的日期,并且它是设计用于希腊西北部,也许是重要城市伊庇鲁斯。该装置证据表明,它可能建于公元前200 年左右,尽管历史学家认为它更有可能建于公元前100 年左右,并且只包括早期的天文信息。这得到了以下证据的支持:事实上,该装置似乎采用了希帕恰斯 (Hipparchus of Rhodes,活跃于公元前 140-120 年)的天文学知识。当时,罗得岛是一个重要的贸易港口,以工程学而闻名。即使年代较近,其构造之谜仍然存在,因为该地区从未发现过当时这种复杂程度的装置。它是数学、天文学和工程学的杰作,让我们更清楚地了解希腊人将理论付诸实践的能力。它还表明,托勒密后来的天文学工作是在他工作之前很久进行的天文观测的基础上不断改进的。
A mysterious mechanical device was found in 1901 in the wreck of a Roman cargo ship that sank near the Greek island of Antikythera. The ship probably sank around 70 BCE. Although some wheels and a few words in Koine Greek could be seen, the rest was so corroded that its use and function were impossible to determine until X-ray and gamma-ray images were taken in 1971. The historian of science Derek de Solla Price and physicist Charalampos Karakalos revealed that the Antikythera mechanism was an incredibly complex analog computer designed to keep time and map the position of the Sun, Moon, and known planets. Later work on the device showed that it also indicated the dates of the Olympic, Isthmian, Nemean, and Pythian games and the lesser-known Naan and Halieian games and that it was designed to work in northwestern Greece, perhaps the important city of Epirus. Evidence from the mechanism suggests that it might have been constructed around 200 BCE although historians have argued that it was more likely built around 100 BCE and simply included the earlier astronomical information. This is supported by the fact that the mechanism appears to use the astronomy of Hipparchus of Rhodes (fl. 140–120 BCE). At the time, Rhodes was an important trading port and well known for engineering. Even with the younger date, the mystery about its construction remains since no device of this level of complexity has been found from that time in the region. It is a masterpiece of mathematics, astronomy, and engineering and gives us a clearer picture of the ability of the Greeks to turn theory into practical use. It also suggests that the later astronomical work of Ptolemy was improving on a very strong foundation of astronomical observations made long before his work.
尽管它体现了当时希腊天文学知识的巅峰,但它可能并不完全可靠。两位研究人员托尼·弗里斯和亚历山大·琼斯指出,齿轮松动,正常的磨损会使其随着时间的推移而变得不那么准确,需要手动更新。这也许可以解释为什么这个装置被装在一艘远离其可能所在地的罗马船上运输。这件珍贵的物品无疑属于一个富裕的家庭,可能正在前往罗得岛进行维修和调整。
Although it embodied the peak of Greek astronomical knowledge of the day, it might not have been completely reliable. Two researchers, Tony Freeth and Alexander Jones, have pointed out that the gearing was loose and normal wear and tear would have made it less accurate over time requiring manual updating. This might explain why the mechanism was being transported on a Roman ship far from its likely home. The prized object, undoubtedly owned by a wealthy family, might have been on its way to Rhodes for repair and a tune up.
1.9安提基特拉机械装置
1.9 ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM
当希腊世界被罗马统治时,一群强大的希腊思想家已经完成了自然研究作为一门学科的创建,并消除了与超自然生物或力量的所有联系,除了最不相关的联系。他们使宇宙变得可测量,因此它就可以被了解。他们为地中海地区的智力探究奠定了框架1000 多年来,亚里士多德和柏拉图的许多思想至今仍引发争论。在罗马统治下,亚历山大港作为学习中心变得更加重要,亚里士多德哲学的基础被输出到帝国的遥远地区,从罗马统治下的英国到中东的新月沃土。随着哲学的发展,圣人、学者和知识分子的形象也随之形成,他们的工作不是解释充满精神的世界的奥秘,而是阅读和揭示自然之书的文本。
By the time the Greek world came under the control of Rome, a powerful group of Greek thinkers had completed the creation of the study of nature as a discipline and removed all but the most tangential connection to supernatural beings or forces. They made the universe measurable, and thus it could be known. They set the framework for intellectual inquiry that would be used in the Mediterranean world for over 1,000 years, and a number of ideas from Aristotle and Plato still provoke debate to this day. Under Roman control, Alexandria became even more important as a center of learning, and the basis of Aristotelian philosophy was exported to the far-flung reaches of the Empire, from Roman Britain to the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East. Along with the philosophy went a new image of the sage, the scholar, the intellectual, whose job was not to interpret the mysteries of a world full of spirits but to read and reveal the text of the book of nature.
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1.与 π 类似,√2 也属于一组后来被称为“无理数”的数字,因为它们不能形成适当的比率。
1. Like π, √2 is part of a collection of numbers that were later called “irrational,” because they do not form proper ratios.
2.和毕达哥拉斯一样,欧几里得究竟是真实存在的人还是一群学者的代名词,也存在争议。根据后世评论家的内部证据,欧几里得可能在雅典接受教育,也许是在柏拉图学院,然后搬到了亚历山大。
2. Like Pythagoras, there is some dispute as to whether Euclid was a real person or a name applied to a collective of scholars. From later commentators’ internal evidence, Euclid may have been educated in Athens, perhaps at Plato’s Academy, and then moved to Alexandria.
3.普鲁塔克,《普鲁塔克名人传》,约翰·德莱顿译(纽约:兰登书屋,1932 年),第 380 页。
3. Plutarch, Plutarch’s Lives, trans.John Dryden (New York: Random House, 1932), 380.
当希腊哲学家们还在为宇宙结构而苦苦思索时,亚得里亚海对岸,一小群生活在台伯河东岸的人正在建立一个强大的军事国家。传统传说称罗慕路斯和雷穆斯于公元前753 年建立了罗马,但这座城市的起源可能是伊特鲁里亚人。大约公元前500 年,伊特鲁里亚统治结束,罗马统治开始。罗马在公元前四世纪和三世纪扩大了其控制范围,征服或吞并了邻国。当罗马在公元前 264 年至公元前146 年间与迦太基进行了布匿战争时,它建立了军事实力并开始崛起为帝国。
While the Greek philosophers were struggling with the structure of the cosmos, across the Adriatic Sea a small group of people living on the east bank of the Tiber River were in the process of creating a powerful military state. Traditional legends claim Romulus and Remus founded Rome in 753 BCE, but the origins of the city were probably Etruscan. Around 500 BCE Etruscan rule ended and Roman rule began. Rome expanded its area of control through the fourth and third centuries BCE, conquering or absorbing its neighbors. When Rome fought the Punic Wars against Carthage between 264 and 146 BCE, it established its military prowess and began its rise to empire.
随着罗马的扩张,它通过意大利半岛上的希腊殖民地以及后来征服希腊本身与希腊文化接触。罗马对希腊的统治于公元前146 年完成,随着占领的进行,希腊的知识遗产在很大程度上受到罗马帝国的控制。希腊学术并没有被罗马摧毁,事实上,罗马精英接受了希腊教育,研究了希腊哲学,高度推崇许多希腊哲学家。这种尊重通常不是为了哲学,而是为了更实际的目的。掌握希腊哲学被认为是一种训练思想的好方法,就像军团士兵训练身体一样;两者都为罗马精英做好了成为世界主宰者的准备。罗马人本质上是一个对实用知识感兴趣的民族。他们的工程师创造了建筑物、道路、渡槽和许多其他宏伟的建筑,这些建筑幸存到现代世界。罗马工业的最终产品令人印象深刻,但更重要的是组织体系的力量,它可以构想、管理和扩张庞大的帝国。在罗马帝国,自然被利用来达到有用的目的。
As Rome expanded, it came into contact with Greek culture both through Greek colonies on the Italian peninsula and later by conquest of Greece itself. Roman dominance of Greece was completed by 146 BCE, and with the occupation the intellectual heritage of Greece came largely under the control of the Roman Empire. Greek scholarship was not destroyed by Rome, and in fact the Roman elite adopted Greek education and studied Greek philosophy, holding many Greek philosophers in high regard. This regard was not generally for the sake of philosophy but for a more practical purpose. Mastering Greek philosophy was seen as a good method to discipline the mind just as the legionnaires disciplined the body; both prepared the elite of Rome for their role as masters of the world. The Romans were at heart a people interested in practical knowledge. Their engineers created buildings, roads, aqueducts, and many other magnificent structures that have survived into the modern world. As impressive as the end products of Roman industry were, even more important was the power of the organizational system that could conceive, manage, and expand the enormous empire. In the Roman Empire nature was to be bent to useful ends.
2.1罗马帝国
2.1 THE ROMAN EMPIRE
因此,罗马人对自然的研究更注重实用性,而非哲学思辨。罗马知识分子更关心事物是否有效,而不是证明有关该事物的知识是否真实。因此,他们更关心机器、动植物研究、医学和天文学,而不是认识论或哲学。罗马帝国不像希腊城邦那样建立在公共话语和民主的基础上,而是建立在权力的公开展示上。让自然听从你的命令比正确的推理更重要。罗马人从自然哲学和其他许多方面汲取了希腊的传统,并将其转化为自己的目标。
The study of nature for the Romans was, therefore, oriented more toward practicality than philosophical speculation. Roman intellectuals were more concerned that a thing worked than about demonstrating the truth of the knowledge of that thing. Thus, they were more concerned with machines, studies of plants and animals, medicine, and astronomy than epistemology or philosophy. The Roman Empire was not based, as the Greek city-states had been, on public discourse and democracy but on public demonstrations of power. Making nature do your bidding was more essential than right reasoning. The Romans took the Greek heritage, in natural philosophy as in much else, and transformed it to aid their own objectives.
对于罗马精英来说,学习希腊哲学可能不是目的本身,而是一种训练心智的方式。即使目的是物质的,智力敏锐度也仍然需要坚实的基础。这一传统促使许多罗马知识分子保存和弘扬希腊思想。例如,大约公元前75 年,著名演说家和政治家马库斯·图留斯·西塞罗(公元前106-43 年)找到并修复了阿基米德的坟墓,尽管阿基米德与罗马人作战,但他因其对机器的熟练掌握而广受爱戴。公元前50 年,诗人提图斯·卢克莱修·卡鲁斯(约公元前 95-55年)写了《物性论》,为伊壁鸠鲁哲学辩护,并阐述了德谟克利特的原子论。公元前40 年,马克·安东尼将大约 200,000 份卷轴(主要来自帕加马图书馆)送给克利奥帕特拉(亚历山大建立的希腊统治者的后裔),后者将它们添加到亚历山大博物馆图书馆,使其成为世界上最大的藏书。安东尼的捐赠并非完全出于利他主义,因为他希望扩大罗马在埃及的影响力,但这无疑证实了图书馆的价值。公元前31 年,罗马征服埃及时,征服者深知博物馆的价值,因此保留了地中海世界最伟大的学习中心,既作为帝国的装饰品,也作为其资料的实用价值。
For the Roman elite, learning Greek philosophy might not be an end in itself but a way of training the mind. Intellectual acuity, even if the ends were material, still required a sound foundation. This heritage led a number of Roman intellectuals to preserve and propound Greek thought. For example, around 75 BCE the famous orator and politician Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BCE) located and restored the tomb of Archimedes, who despite fighting against the Romans was well liked for his facility with machines. In 50 BCE the poet Titus Lucretius Carus (c. 95–55 BCE) wrote De rerum natura, a defense of Epicurean philosophy, and expounded the theory of Democritean atomism. In 40 BCE Marc Antony gave some 200,000 scrolls (primarily from the library at Pergamum) to Cleopatra (a descendent of the Greek rulers established by Alexander), who added them to the library of the Museum at Alexandria, making it the largest collection in the world. The gift was not completely altruistic, as Antony hoped to extend Rome’s influence in Egypt, but it certainly confirmed the library’s value. When Rome subjugated Egypt in 31 BCE, the conquerors, well aware of the Museum’s worth, preserved the greatest center of learning in the Mediterranean world both as an ornament in their empire and for the practical value of its materials.
罗马人对大型项目产生了浓厚的兴趣。他们成功的关键之一是在建筑中广泛使用拱门,这使得他们能够建造比埃及人或希腊人使用柱子和门楣系统建造的更大、更开放的建筑。拱门在三维空间中旋转形成圆顶,这是罗马建筑的另一项创新。他们还引入了水硬性水泥作为砂浆的使用;由于它即使在水下也能凝固,因此它是建造桥梁、桥墩和码头的非常有用的工具。
The Romans developed a taste for large-scale projects. One of the keys to their success was the widespread use in their architecture of the arch, which allowed them to create much larger and much more open structures than the Egyptians or Greeks had been able to build using the column and lintel system. An arch rotated in three dimensions produces a dome, which was another innovation in Roman architecture. They also introduced the use of hydraulic cement as a mortar; because it set even under water, it was a very useful tool for building bridges, piers, and docks.
罗马时代最伟大的工程成就是道路系统。虽然大多数罗马道路并不代表必须掌握的最复杂的工程问题,但它们是帝国集中控制的关键。罗马权力之所以发挥作用,是因为道路不仅提供了通信系统和安全的贸易路线,而且还允许快速部署军事力量。
The greatest engineering accomplishment of the Roman era was the road system. While the majority of Roman roads did not represent the most complex engineering problems that had to be mastered, they were the key to the centralized control of the empire. Roman power functioned because the roads not only provided a communications system and a safe trade route but also allowed the rapid deployment of military forces.
当罗马工程师发明和开发解决帝国问题的方法时,罗马时代的自然哲学家并没有那么创新。他们没有创造一个新的自然哲学体系,而是把精力转向延续和扩展了来自希腊的哲学体系,特别是亚里士多德体系(在亚历山大占主导地位)和柏拉图体系。这种扩展形成的方式之一是一些学者的评论和百科全书式的作品,如波希多尼(约公元前 135-51 年),他撰写了对柏拉图和亚里士多德的评论,老普林尼(公元23-79 年)的巨著《自然史》无非是对已知自然界的一切的完整调查,呈现给受过教育的普通观众。据报道,普林尼和他的助手查阅了 2,000 多卷书来汇编他们的信息。其中一些材料是奇妙的和神话般的,例如对奇怪的野兽和没有头的人的描述,但普林尼也重申了埃拉托色尼对地球大小的测量。
While Roman engineers were inventing and developing solutions to the problems of empire, natural philosophers in the Roman era were not as innovative. They did not create a new system of natural philosophy but turned their energy to continuing and extending the philosophical systems that came from Greece, particularly the Aristotelian (which dominated at Alexandria) and the Platonic systems. One way this extension took shape was in the commentaries and encyclopedic work of a number of scholars such as Posidonius (c. 135–51 BCE), who wrote commentaries on Plato and Aristotle, and Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), whose massive work Natural History was nothing less than a complete survey of all that was known about the natural world presented to an educated but general audience. It was reported that Pliny and his assistants reviewed more than 2,000 volumes to compile their information. Some of this material was fantastic and mythical, such as descriptions of strange beasts and people with no heads, but Pliny also reiterated Eratosthenes’s measurement of the size of the globe.
罗马时期自然哲学主要源于天文学和医学的进步,但有两个例外。这两种哲学基础主要来自亚里士多德,但其影响远远超出了早期希腊时期的任何著作。除了著作本身的重要性之外,托勒密(约公元 87 年 - 约公元 150 年)的天文学和盖伦(公元 129 年 - 约公元210 年)的医学发现都是罗马沦陷后向学者传播希腊哲学的重要渠道。
Two exceptions to the largely derivative natural philosophy in the Roman era were advances in astronomy and medicine. In both cases, the philosophical foundation came primarily from Aristotle but was extended well beyond any work of the earlier Greek period. In addition to the importance of the work itself, both the astronomy of Ptolemy (c. 87–c. 150 CE) and the medical discoveries of Galen (129–c. 210 CE) were significant conduits for the transmission of Greek philosophy to scholars after the fall of Rome.
尽管我们对托勒密的生平几乎一无所知,但他的作品至今仍被公认为自然哲学的基石。他的全名是克劳狄斯·托勒密,暗示他有希腊和罗马血统。他住在亚历山大,利用复杂的数学和大量的观察,创作了占星术、天文学和地理学方面的材料。他的天文计算方法尤其影响了西方对天空的看法,影响了 1000 多年。在准确性方面,直到 17 世纪初第谷·布拉赫时代和伽利略发明望远镜后,他的观测才被超越。
Although we know almost nothing about Ptolemy’s life, his work is recognized as the cornerstone of natural philosophy to this day. His full name was Claudius Ptolemaeus, which suggests both Greek and Roman roots. Living in Alexandria, he produced material on astrology, astronomy, and geography, using complex mathematics and a large body of observations. His methods of astronomical calculation in particular shaped the Western view of the heavens for more than 1,000 years. In terms of accuracy, his observations were not surpassed until the beginning of the seventeenth century in the era of Tycho Brahe and with Galileo’s introduction of the telescope.
托勒密的天文学著作被收录在《数学语法》中,通常被称为《天文学大成》(源于阿拉伯语al-majisti,意为“最好的”),它完成了两件事。首先,他创建了一个数学模型,将亚里士多德的宇宙学与观察相协调。其次,他提供了一个全面的工具,包括表格和说明,以便进行准确的观察。他的工作扩展了希帕恰斯的成果,希帕恰斯已经做出了许多精确的对恒星和行星的观测,计算出春分点的岁差,测量一年的长度和阴历月;欧多克索斯 (公元前 390 年 - 公元前 337 年)提出了一种嵌套球体系统,每个球体的旋转轴略有不同,这是一种创造性的解决方案,解决了逆行运动的问题。
Ptolemy’s work on astronomy, collected in the Mathematical Syntaxis, commonly known as the Almagest (from the Arabic al-majisti meaning “the best”), accomplished two things. First, he created a mathematical model that reconciled Aristotelian cosmology with observation. Second, he provided a comprehensive tool, including tables and directions, to make accurate observations. His work extended both that of Hipparchus of Rhodes, who had made numerous precise observations of the stars and planets, worked out the precession of the equinoxes, and measured the length of the year and the lunar month; and of Eudoxus (c. 390–c. 337 BCE), whose system of nested spheres each with a slightly different axis of rotation was a creative solution to the problem of retrograde motion.
亚里士多德的地心说或地球中心说体系从一般经验来看似乎是显而易见的,而且在哲学上也是一致的,但在详细观察时,它存在一些问题。最难调和的观察之一是逆行运动。(见图2.2。)如果观察者在较长时间内追踪金星、水星、火星、木星和土星相对于恒星(每年向东移动)的轨迹,每颗行星都会逐渐向东移动,然后似乎会减慢速度并向西绕回一段时间,然后继续从西向东移动。这在火星轨道上最为明显。
Aristotle’s geocentric or Earth-centered system seemed to be obvious from general experience and is philosophically consistent, but there were several problems with it when it came to detailed observation. One of the most difficult observations to reconcile was retrograde motion. (See figure 2.2.) If an observer traced the course of the planets Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn over an extended time relative to the stars (which move eastward in a yearly cycle), each planet gradually moved eastward, and then seemed to slow down and loop back westward for a time before continuing their west-to-east movement. This was most noticeable in the orbit of Mars.
2.2逆行运动
2.2 RETROGRADE MOTION
除了逆行运动的问题外,许多行星似乎在其轨道的不同部分以不同的速度移动,而恒星则以非常规则的模式移动。运动和时间的综合问题似乎与天空完美的圆形和球形性质的公理相矛盾。逆行运动也带来了实际问题,因为精确掌握天体知识对于预测星象、辅助导航和计时至关重要。托勒密创建了一个实用的天体模型,解决了所有这些问题。重要的是要明白,他认为他的模型不是对宇宙的真实描述,而是一种数学装置,可以让观察者追踪天体的运动。由于他的系统的实用性及其与后世学者的哲学和神学的契合,托勒密系统成为天体实际结构的代名词。
In addition to the problem of retrograde motion, a number of the planets seemed to move at different speeds in different parts of their orbits, while the fixed stars moved in a very regular pattern. The combined problems of motion and time seemed to contradict the axiom of the perfect circular and spherical nature of the heavens. Retrograde motion also presented practical problems, since precise knowledge of the objects of the skies was necessary for casting horoscopes, aiding navigation, and telling time. Ptolemy created a working model of the heavens that resolved all these problems. It is important to understand that he regarded his model not as a true description of the universe but rather as a mathematical device that allowed observers to track the movement of the celestial bodies. Because of the utility of his system and its fit with the philosophy and theology of later scholars, the Ptolemaic system became synonymous with the actual structure of the heavens.
托勒密的推论基于大量观察结果,这些观察结果来自博物馆图书馆的资源以及他自己和助手的工作。为了将圆周运动的必要性(亚里士多德宇宙论所要求的)与行星的观测运动相协调,他引入了几何“固定点”,使绘制天体运动的过程机械化。这些固定点是偏心圆、本轮和均等圆。
Ptolemy based his deductions on a large body of observations that came from the resources of the Museum’s library and from his own work and that of assistants. To reconcile the necessity of circular motion (as required by Aristotelian cosmology) with the observed motion of the planets, he introduced geometric “fixes” that allowed for a mechanization of the process of mapping the movement of the celestial bodies. These fixes were the eccentric, the epicycle, and the equant.
如果一颗行星围绕地球匀速运动,那么将其轨道描述为圆形是没有问题的,但大多数行星在其轨道的不同点似乎运动不同。托勒密推断,问题可能不在于行星实际上运行得更快或更慢(什么机制会导致这种变化?),而是我们对运动的感知。通过将行星轨道中心移离地球(宇宙中心),偏心轮复制了观察到的非匀速运动,同时允许行星以匀速运动遵循完美的圆形轨道。(见图2.3。)
If a planet moved uniformly around the Earth, there was no problem describing its orbit as circular, but most planets seemed to move differently at different points in their orbit. Ptolemy reasoned that the problem could not be the planet actually going faster and slower (what mechanism could cause such a change?), but our perception of the motion. By moving the center of the planet’s orbit away from the Earth (at the center of the universe), the eccentric replicated the observed nonuniform motion while allowing the planet to follow a perfect circular orbit in uniform motion. (See figure 2.3.)
2.3偏心
2.3 ECCENTRIC
偏心轮并不能解决所有问题,因此托勒密还引入了本轮,即以较大的圆或均轮为中心的小圆。(见图2.4。)这一解决方案巧妙地解释了逆行运动。后来天文学家意识到可以添加本轮来解决观测问题,正如我们在中世纪晚期和文艺复兴时期的机械模型中看到的那样。
The eccentric did not solve all the problems, so Ptolemy also introduced the epicycle, a small circle centered on a larger circle or deferent. (See figure 2.4.) This fix neatly accounted for retrograde motion. Later astronomers realized that epicycles could be added to solve observational problems, as we see particularly in late medieval and Renaissance mechanical models.
2.4周转轮
2.4 EPICYCLE
均轮是托勒密最复杂的装置。(见图2.5。)均轮并不位于轨道中心,而是偏离轨道。然而,行星在均轮上的运动在均轮周围是均匀的。这意味着行星的视运动在轨道的不同部分会更快和更慢,因为行星扫过的区域并不相等。
The equant was the most complex of Ptolemy’s devices. (See figure 2.5.) The equant is not at the center of the orbit but is displaced from it. However, the motion of the planet on the deferent is uniform around the equant. This means that the planet’s apparent motion will be faster and slower in different parts of the orbit because the region swept out by the planet will not be equal.
2.5量化
2.5 EQUANT
托勒密利用这三种几何装置,能够解释天空的各种运动,并预测未来的天体活动。《天文学大成》是一项辉煌的成就,他的系统非常强大,成为西方和中东天文学 1300 多年来的基础;它的一个版本至今仍用于海上小型船只导航。尽管《天文学大成》的大部分内容很复杂,但它的部分威力在于它在数学上并不复杂。托勒密模型的所有元素都基于圆的几何形状,这是众所周知的。虽然可以使用许多本轮来确定行星的轨道,但它们都是以相同的方式构造的。《天文学大成》提供了肉眼可见的所有物体的天体运动的完整描述。观测非常准确,计算方法非常完善,从实用的角度来看,托勒密已经解决了天文学问题。虽然对本轮的分布和偏心轮的确切位置进行了一些调整,但该模型运行良好,可以制成机械装置。帕多瓦的乔瓦尼·德·唐迪在公元 1350 年左右完善了这种天体钟,他的钟表杰作和托勒密天文学的副本可以在华盛顿特区的史密森学会找到。(见图2.6。)
Using these three geometric devices, Ptolemy was able to account for all the varied motions of the heavens and to predict future celestial activities. The Almagest was a brilliant achievement, and his system was so powerful that it became the basis for Western and Middle Eastern astronomy for over 1,300 years; a version of it survives to this day for small craft navigation at sea. Although much of the Almagest was complicated, part of its power was that it was not mathematically complex. All the elements of Ptolemy’s models were based on the geometry of the circle, which was well understood. While there could be many epicycles employed to establish the orbit of a planet, they were all constructed the same way. The Almagest provided a complete account of celestial motion of all the objects that could be seen with the naked eye. The observations were so accurate and the method of calculation so complete that from a practical point of view Ptolemy had resolved the issue of astronomy. There was some tinkering with the distribution of epicycles and the exact location of the eccentrics, but the model worked so well that it could be made into a mechanical device. This celestial clock was perfected by Giovanni de Dondi of Padua around 1350 CE, and a working copy of his masterpiece of clockwork and Ptolemaic astronomy can be found at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. (See figure 2.6.)
2.6帕多瓦的乔瓦尼·德东迪天文钟
2.6 CELESTIAL CLOCK OF GIOVANNI DE DONDI OF PADUA
来源:SSPL/纽约科学博物馆/艺术资源。
Source: SSPL / Science Museum / Art Resource, NY.
托勒密的另一部伟大著作《地理学》将他强大的数学工具和博物馆的资源运用到了地球领域。从某种意义上说,《天文学大成》和《地理学》代表了同一系统的两个部分,第一部分代表月上领域,第二部分代表地球或月下领域。要获得良好的天文结果,必须知道你在地球上的位置;要知道这一点,必须对地球进行数学处理。托勒密总结了其他地理学家的工作,并研究了制图学的各个方面,包括各种投影方法、经度和纬度;然后他列出了大约 8,000 个地点及其坐标。他将天球和地球视为等同的,对它们应用相同的网格系统,并使用相同的球面几何来绘制点。他将地球划分为一系列平行带或“气候”,并开发了经度和纬度坐标网格。通过这样做,他创建了一种从未被完全取代的地图投影,这对后来欧洲人的探索和与世界其他地区的接触具有极其重要的意义。
Ptolemy’s other great work, the Geographia, applied his powerful mathematical tools and the resources of the Museum to the terrestrial realm. In a sense, the Almagest and the Geographia represent two parts of the same system, the first representing the supralunar realm and the second the terrestrial or sublunar realm. To achieve good astronomical results it was necessary to know where you were on the globe; to know that, the globe had to be treated mathematically. Ptolemy summarized the work of other geographers and examined aspects of cartography including various methods of projection, longitude, and latitude; he then provided lists of some 8,000 places and their coordinates. He treated the celestial and terrestrial globes as equivalent, applying the same grid system to each, and using the same spherical geometry to plot points. He divided the globe into a series of parallel belts or “climates” and developed a grid of longitude and latitude coordinates. In doing so, he created a map projection that has never been completely superseded and that was of immense importance to later European exploration and contact with other parts of the world.
2.7托勒密的《地理志》世界地图(1482 年)
2.7 PTOLEMY’S WORLD MAP FROM GEOGRAPHIA (1482)
托勒密的数学地理学与早期希腊学者如斯特拉博(约公元前63 年 - 约公元21 年)的描述性地理学形成鲜明对比。斯特拉博在公元前7 年左右撰写了一部八卷本的地理学著作《地貌》,书中他根据自己广泛的游历和从其他旅行者那里收集的记述,着手描述已知世界的每一个细节。这是一项与历史和政治密切相关的事业。托勒密将他对地球的数学描绘(他称之为“地理学”)与斯特拉博的陆地研究类型(称为“地貌学”)区分开来。
Ptolemy’s mathematical geography contrasts with the earlier descriptive geography of Greek scholars such as Strabo (c. 63 BCE–c. 21 CE). Strabo wrote an eight-volume geography, De situ orbis, around 7 BCE, in which he set out to describe every detail of the known world, based both on his own extensive travels and on the accounts he gathered from other travelers. This was an enterprise closely tied to history and politics. Ptolemy made a distinction between his mathematical rendering of the globe, which he called “geography,” and Strabo’s type of terrestrial research, labeled “chorography.”
托勒密《天文学大成》中最有用的部分以及《地理学》中的“重要城市表”被编纂为《便捷表》。这种参考资料可以快速进行天体计算,而且比《天文学大成》中概述的方法更简单。《便捷表》成为天文学的标准工具。地理材料并不像天文学材料那样广为人知,传播也不那么广泛,罗马灭亡后就淡出了人们的视线。它在 15 世纪的重新发现对文艺复兴时期欧洲的地理思想和探索产生了重大影响。由于托勒密的作品非常有用,它们被广泛传播,这反过来帮助它们在包括罗马和拜占庭在内的许多帝国末日的动乱中幸存下来。托勒密的作品保存下来的地方,其作品的亚里士多德基础也保留了下来。
The most useful parts of Ptolemy’s Almagest, as well as his “Table of Important Cities” from the Geographia, were compiled as the Handy Tables. This reference allowed a quick way of doing celestial calculations and was easier than the methods outlined in the Almagest. The Handy Tables became a standard tool for astronomy. The geographical material was not as well known, nor as widely circulated, as the astronomical, and it faded from sight after the fall of Rome. Its rediscovery in the fifteenth century had a major impact on geographical thought and exploration in Renaissance Europe. Because Ptolemy’s works were so useful, they were widely disseminated, which in turn helped them to survive the turmoil of the end of a number of empires including the Roman and the Byzantine. Where Ptolemy’s work survived, the Aristotelian foundation of his work also persisted.
与托勒密相比,我们对盖伦的生活了解得更多。盖伦生于公元129 年,出生在帕加马,当时帕加马是仅次于亚历山大的学习中心。盖伦在 16 岁开始接受医学培训之前,学习过数学和哲学。公元157 年,他成为帕加马角斗士的外科医生。从很多方面来看,正是这份第一份专业工作让他开始创建自己的医学知识体系,尤其是解剖学知识。在禁止解剖人体的时代,他通过照顾受伤和死亡的角斗士获得了第一手的人体解剖学经验。他看到了肌肉和骨骼的结构,肌肉和肠道因暴力伤害而暴露出来,他负责尽可能将这些部位重新放回原位。公元162 年,他前往罗马,待了四年后才回到家乡。当瘟疫爆发时,皇帝马库斯·奥勒留将他召回罗马,他在那里永久定居并担任四位皇帝的私人医生:马库斯·奥勒留、卢西乌斯·维鲁斯、康茂德和塞普蒂米乌斯·塞维鲁。
In contrast to Ptolemy, we know much more about Galen’s life. Born in 129 CE at Pergamum, second only to Alexandria as a center of learning in the period, Galen studied mathematics and philosophy before beginning his medical training at the age of 16. In 157 CE he became surgeon to the gladiators at Pergamum. In many ways, it was this first professional work that allowed him to begin creating his own system of medical knowledge, particularly of anatomy. At a time when human dissection was forbidden, he got first-hand experience of human anatomy by tending to wounded and dead gladiators. He saw the structure of muscle and bone, sinew and intestine laid bare by violent injury, and he was responsible for trying to set the parts back in place when possible. In 162 CE he traveled to Rome, remaining for four years before returning to his home town. When a plague struck, Emperor Marcus Aurelius called him back to Rome, where he settled permanently as the personal physician to four emperors: Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, Commodus, and Septimius Severus.
当时的医学哲学以希波克拉底理论为主导。科斯的希波克拉底(公元前 460 年 - 公元前 370 年)可能是一个人,一个神话人物,或一个集体的名字。希波克拉底医学体系基于养生和平衡的概念。养生不仅涵盖患者健康的身体方面,还涵盖社会、心理和精神方面。希波克拉底医生对患者进行了长时间的访谈,询问他们的饮食、工作、家庭生活、性生活和精神健康。星座运势是种族,甚至地理位置也被考虑在内,因为居住在沼泽附近或暴露在某种风中被认为对健康有害。尽管希波克拉底医生考虑精神方面并使用星座,但他们认为疾病主要是自然的而不是超自然的,因此用药物、饮食和运动等物质解决方案来治疗疾病。健康被认为是身体活动、饮食和生活方式的正确平衡;疾病代表了元素的不平衡。
Medical philosophy of the time was dominated by Hippocratic theory. Hippocrates of Cos (c. 460–c. 370 BCE) may have been a single individual, a mythic figure, or a name given to a collective. The Hippocratic system of medicine was based on the concept of regimen and balance. Regimen covered not only the physical aspects of a patient’s health but also social, mental, and spiritual aspects. Hippocratic doctors conducted long interviews with patients, asking about their diet, work, home life, sex life, and spiritual health. Horoscopes were cast, and even geography was considered, since living near a swamp or exposure to certain winds was considered harmful to well-being. Although Hippocratic doctors considered spiritual aspects and used horoscopes, they regarded illness as primarily natural rather than supernatural and thus treated disease with material solutions such as drugs, diet, and exercise. Health was considered to be the correct balance of physical action, diet, and lifestyle; illness represented an unbalancing of the elements.
希波克拉底平衡理论的基础是四种体液,涵盖四种体液:来自头部的痰、来自肝脏的血液、来自胃的黄胆汁和来自胃或肠的黑胆汁。(见图2.8。)每种体液都具有冷热和干湿的配对特性,并且都具有与亚里士多德体系非常契合的四种要素之一。医疗干预的目标是平衡四种体液。任何体液过多或过少都会导致疾病。例如,血液过多的人多血质,治疗方法是出血,而胆汁过多的人体内胆汁过多,需要服用泻药。正如多血质和胆汁过多的现代用法所暗示的那样,这些身体状况也与气质有关。
The basis of the Hippocratic theory of balance was the four humors, which covered the four bodily fluids: phlegm from the head, blood from the liver, yellow bile from the stomach, and black bile from the stomach or intestine. (See figure 2.8.) Each of these had a paired quality of hot/cold and wet/dry as well as one of the four elements that fit nicely with the Aristotelian system. The objective of medical intervention was to balance the four humors. Too much or too little of any humor resulted in illness. For example, a person with too much blood was sanguine and the treatment was bleeding, while a bilious person had too much bile in their system and needed a purgative. These physical conditions were, as the modern use of the terms sanguine and bilious suggest, also associated with temperament.
2.8四种盖伦体液
2.8 THE FOUR GALENIC HUMORS
虽然现代医学经常将其传统追溯到希腊的希波克拉底医生,尤其是通过希波克拉底誓言,但事实上,希腊或罗马时期几乎没有统一的医学理论。虽然一些希波克拉底医生有处理医疗创伤的经验,如伤口、骨折和其他伤害,但也有其他医疗从业者,如外科医生,直接处理身体。希波克拉底医生不处理女性,她们由另一组从业者(包括助产士)治疗。在很大程度上,男性和女性的医疗是分开的。如果一个男人能负担得起医生,他会寻求像盖伦这样受过哲学训练的医生。对于女性和穷人,有各种各样的从业者和各种各样的治疗方法,从从最实际的到最精神的。寺庙里常常为病人提供援助,祈祷和祈求是治疗的一部分。
While modern medicine often traces its heritage back to the Hippocratic doctors of Greece, especially through the Hippocratic Oath, there were in fact few unified theories of medicine in Greek or Roman times. Although some Hippocratic doctors had experience with medical trauma such as wounds, fractures, and other injuries, there were other medical practitioners, such as surgeons, who dealt with the body directly. Hippocratic doctors did not deal with women, who were treated by another group of practitioners including midwives. To a large extent, medical treatment for men and women was separate. If a man could afford a physician, he sought a philosophically trained physician like Galen. For women and the poor, there were a range of practitioners and a range of treatments from the most practical to the most spiritual. Aid was often provided to the sick at temples, where prayer and supplication were part of treatment.
在盖伦开始行医时,历史学家至少确定了四大医学哲学流派:理性主义者、经验主义者、循道主义者和气动主义者。即使在这些群体中,也没有统一的实践形式。每个学校和每个收徒的医生都教授不同版本的医学理论。此外,每个医生也是自己的推销员,寻找客户和赞助人,通常是在市场上。由于这种客户竞争,医生必须能够说服潜在客户,他的品牌的药物是最好的,因此医学教育还包括哲学、修辞和辩论方面的培训。
At least four general groups of medical philosophy have been identified by historians at the time Galen began to practice medicine: the rationalist, empiricist, methodist, and pneumatist. Even within those groups there was no united form of practice. Each school and each doctor who took on apprentices taught a different version of medical theory. Further, each doctor was also his own salesman seeking clients and patrons, often literally in the marketplace. Because of this competition for clients, a doctor had to be able to persuade potential clients that his brand of medicine was the best, so medical education also included training in philosophy, rhetoric, and disputation.
当盖伦成为帕加马角斗士的医生时,他从事的是一份收入丰厚但地位相对较低的工作。角斗士战斗是一项赚钱的事业,但盖伦的工作主要处理伤口,被认为非常实用,因此地位低于疾病的知识诊断。尽管地位问题,但为角斗士治疗让盖伦获得了他在其他地方无法获得的东西——详细了解人体解剖学。宗教和文化禁忌阻止了人体解剖,因此在罗马世界,解剖学培训是理论性的或基于动物解剖,尤其是猴子。
When Galen became physician to the gladiators of Pergamum, he was taking a lucrative job but one with relatively low status. Gladiatorial combat was a big money enterprise, but Galen’s work, primarily dealing with wounds, was considered very practical and thus of a lower status than the intellectual diagnosis of disease. Despite the issue of status, treating the gladiators gave Galen something he could not get elsewhere – detailed exposure to human anatomy. Religious and cultural taboos prevented the dissection of humans, so in the Roman world anatomical training was theoretical or based on animal dissection, particularly of monkeys.
盖伦将自己的哲学训练带到了他的工作中,包括柏拉图、亚里士多德和斯多葛学派,后者相信基于物质世界的物理学,以及古典思想的许多其他元素。他接受了希波克拉底体液学说,但想弄清楚人体器官的功能,因此他将亚里士多德的分类,特别是四因论,应用到他的解剖学工作中。例如,他的密切观察表明,动脉输送的是血液,而不是旧理论所说的“pneuma”或空气。身体中的每个器官和结构都有其用途,解剖和活体解剖是确定其用途的关键工具。他的解剖学工作不仅成为生理学的有力工具,也成为说服的有力工具。他的演示使他领先于其他依靠修辞来推销其品牌药物的医生,因为他可以通过实际解剖动物向人们展示他的系统。盖伦的成就如此巨大,以至于他得到了四位皇帝的赞助,并成为罗马社会精英的医生。这些赞助为他提供了写作的时间,他可能撰写了多达 500 篇论文,其中 80 多篇至今仍存。
Galen brought to his work his philosophical training, which covered Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics, who believed in a physics based on the material world, as well as many other elements of classical thought. He accepted the Hippocratic humors but wanted to make clear the functions of the human organs, so he applied Aristotelian categories, particularly the four causes, to his anatomical work. His close observation demonstrated, for example, that arteries carried blood rather than the older theory that they carried “pneuma,” or air. Each organ and structure in the body had a purpose, and dissection and vivisection were the key tools to establishing what that purpose was. His anatomical work became a powerful tool not only for physiology but also for persuasion. His demonstrations put him ahead of other physicians who depended on rhetoric to sell their brand of medicine, because he could show people his system through actual dissections of animals. Galen’s success was so great that he received the patronage of four emperors and was physician to the elite of Roman society. The support afforded by such patronage allowed him the time to write, and he may have authored as many as 500 treatises, of which more than 80 survive to the present.
盖伦的生产力和赞助人足以确保他在医学史上占有一席之地,但还有一个因素帮助保存了盖伦医学当时希腊罗马思想的其他方面被否定或丢失。盖伦采取了一种强烈的目的论哲学,认为没有任何东西存在都是有目的的,所有的自然都是以最好的方式和最好的方式建造的。这证明了造物主的存在和完美,造物主是世界的创造者。在将柏拉图的理想主义扩展到身体的同时,这种目的论哲学与伊斯兰、犹太教和基督教思想家的哲学非常契合。他的实用医学被这些宗教视为少数值得从罗马帝国的异教、颓废和物质主义世界中保留下来的东西之一,这些宗教有强烈的戒律,将照顾病人视为宗教义务。当盖伦的文本幸存下来时,柏拉图和亚里士多德的哲学基础也得以保存。
Galen’s productivity and patrons would have been enough to ensure him a place in medical history, but a further element helped preserve Galenic medicine when other aspects of Greco-Roman thought were repudiated or lost. Galen adopted a strongly teleological philosophy in which nothing existed without a purpose and all of nature was constructed in the best possible way and for the best possible good. This demonstrated the existence and perfection of the Demiurge, the fashioner of the world. While extending Platonic idealism to the body, this teleological philosophy fit well with that of Islamic, Jewish, and Christian thinkers. His practical medicine was considered one of the few things worth keeping from the pagan, decadent, and materialistic world of the Roman Empire by these religions, which had strong precepts about care for the sick as a religious duty. When Galenic texts survived, the philosophical foundations of Plato and Aristotle were also preserved.
公元 210 年左右,盖伦去世时,罗马帝国开始出现裂痕。公元 269 年,塞普蒂米娅·泽诺比亚攻占埃及,亚历山大图书馆部分被烧毁。公元 286 年,戴克里先将帝国划分为东部和西部行政区。公元 389 年,异教徒和基督徒之间的暴乱将亚历山大的大图书馆夷为平地,博物馆也因此关闭。公元392 年,狄奥多西一世下令摧毁异教神庙,罗马宗教的最后遗迹正式被基督教取代。
By the time of Galen’s death around 210 CE, cracks were beginning to appear in the Roman Empire. In 269 CE, the library of Alexandria was partly burned when Septimia Zenobia captured Egypt. In 286 CE, Diocletian divided the empire into eastern and western administrative units. Alexandria’s great library was burned to the ground in 389 CE during a riot between pagans and Christians, which closed the Museum. Emperor Theodosius I ordered the destruction of pagan temples in 392 CE as the last vestiges of Roman religion were officially replaced by Christianity.
如果不是来自外部的压力,罗马帝国或许能够继续经受住这些问题。在东部,波斯人抵抗罗马人的控制,并不断威胁着罗马帝国。在西北部,一大群民族要么在莱茵河边境推进,要么在与罗马人的控制作斗争。5 世纪,越过边境的袭击事件增多,因为日耳曼部落被匈奴人从后面逼退,同时又被摇摇欲坠的帝国的财富所吸引。罗马道路曾是控制帝国的手段,如今却将入侵者引向罗马世界的中心。
The Roman Empire might have continued to weather these problems had it not been for pressure from the outside. In the east the Persians resisted Roman control and were a constant threat. In the northwest a whole host of peoples were either pushing against the frontier at the Rhine or struggling against Roman control. Attacks across the frontier increased in the fifth century because the Germanic tribes were being pushed from behind by the Huns while at the same time being attracted to the wealth of the faltering empire. The Roman roads, which had once been the means of controlling the empire, guided the invaders into the heart of the Roman world.
在帝国东部,君士坦丁堡在罗马沦陷于野蛮侵略者之后努力延续帝国和学习的传统。君士坦丁堡由君士坦丁一世皇帝于公元330 年建立,在狄奥多西一世去世后于公元395 年成为独立东部帝国的首都。君士坦丁堡拥有希腊传统和战略位置,在罗马中央统治结束而导致的衰落时期,保留了希腊学习和文化的元素。
In the eastern part of the empire Constantinople struggled to continue the traditions of empire and learning after Rome itself had fallen to barbarian invaders. Established in 330 CE by Emperor Constantine I, Constantinople became the capital of a separate eastern empire in 395 CE after the death of Theodosius I. With its Greek heritage and strategic location, Constantinople preserved elements of Greek learning and culture during the years of decline caused by the end of central rule by Rome.
罗马曾经是横跨欧洲、北非和中东大部分地区的帝国最大的城市,公元 410 年被西哥特人洗劫,公元 455 年又被汪达尔人洗劫。罗马的衰落部分是由于内部问题造成的,例如税收水平提高、贫富差距、被征服民族的不满、罗马人参与军事活动的减少以及持续不断的政治内斗和内战。罗马人处理这些问题的能力可能因铅中毒的影响而大大降低,因为这种重金属不仅从合金盘子、碗和杯子中浸出,而且还从广泛用于管道的铅管中浸出(拉丁语中的plumbum表示铅)。此外,醋酸铅还用于给葡萄酒增甜。
Rome, once the greatest city of an empire that spanned much of Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East, was sacked by the Visigoths in 410 CE, then again by the Vandals in 455 CE. The fall was partly the result of internal problems such as increased levels of taxation, the disparity of rich and poor, the grievances of the conquered peoples, a decline in Roman participation in the military, and constant political infighting and civil war. Romans’ ability to deal with these problems may have been significantly diminished by the effects of lead poisoning, as the heavy metal leached not only from alloy plates, bowls, and cups but also from the lead pipes extensively used for plumbing (plumbum being the Latin for lead). Moreover, acetate of lead was used to sweeten wine.
公元476 年,德国侵略者称帝,西罗马帝国最终不复存在。新的统治者对哲学并不特别感兴趣,无论是自然哲学还是其他哲学。罗马最后一位伟大的自然哲学家是阿尼修斯·曼利乌斯·塞维里努斯,他更为人熟知的名字是波爱修斯 (480-524年)。他最为人所熟知的作品是《哲学的慰藉》,但其最持久的影响来自于他作为翻译的角色。他将亚里士多德的一些逻辑著作翻译成了拉丁文,还有波菲利的《亚里士多德逻辑导论》和欧几里得的《几何原本》。由于他的著作,亚里士多德几乎是十二世纪之前希腊自然哲学的唯一来源。波爱修斯因叛国罪被捕,并最终于公元 524 年被狄奥多里克大帝处决,从此结束了西欧近七个世纪的希腊化自然哲学。
The western empire finally ceased to function in 476 CE when German invaders established themselves as the emperors of Rome. The new rulers were not particularly interested in philosophy, natural or otherwise. The last great natural philosopher in Rome was Anicius Manlius Severinus, better known as Boethius (480–524 CE). His best remembered work was On the Consolation of Philosophy, but his most lasting impact came from his role as a translator. He translated a number of Aristotle’s logical works into Latin, as well as Porphyry’s Introduction to Aristotle’s Logic and Euclid’s Elements. Because of his work, Aristotle was almost the only available source for Greek natural philosophy until the twelfth century. Boethius was jailed for treason and finally executed by Theoderic the Great in 524 CE, ending Greek-oriented natural philosophy in Western Europe for almost seven centuries.
导致人们对希腊哲学兴趣下降的另一个因素是基督教的兴起。它是否也导致了罗马帝国的衰落,这是一个历史争论的问题。一方面,基督徒经常与罗马社会中的异见分子联系在一起,政府为打击宗教在国内的传播而付出的努力,分散了资源和注意力,使其无法解决边境蛮族的压力等其他问题。另一方面,基督徒并没有制造外部问题,随着公元 392 年狄奥多西一世统治下的罗马帝国基督教化,基督教为严重分裂的社会提供了一股统一力量的可能性。短期内,罗马基督徒在西方帝国崩溃期间遭受了苦难,但从长远来看,教会能够保存和重燃哲学的理性方面。
The other element that resulted in a decline in interest in Greek philosophy was the rise of Christianity. Whether it also contributed to the decline of the Roman Empire is a matter of historical debate. On the one hand, Christians were frequently associated with dissident elements in Roman society, and efforts by the government to fight the spread of the religion at home took resources and attention away from other problems such as the barbarian pressures on the borders. On the other hand, the Christians did not create the external problems, and with the Christianization of the Roman Empire under Theodosius I starting in 392 CE, Christianity offered the possibility of a unifying force in a badly fractured society. In the short term, the Roman Christians suffered during the collapse of the western empire, but in the longer term the Church was able to preserve and rekindle the intellectual aspects of philosophy.
基督教与自然哲学的关系一直不太融洽(现在依然如此)。基督教的弥赛亚和福音派特征使人们远离对自然的研究,转向对上帝的沉思。希腊哲学家是异教徒,因此应该被拒绝,但他们也是非凡的罗马帝国的一部分,与教会生存所需的知识力量和管理技能(尤其是识字和簿记)密切相关。此外,早期教会的许多重要领袖都接受过希腊哲学的培训。奥古斯丁(公元354-430 年)尤其受过良好的希腊哲学训练,他成为知识教会的代言人。即便如此,希腊哲学教育的最后遗迹——学院和吕克昂学院,还是在公元 529 年被皇帝查士丁尼关闭。尽管多年来它们只不过是昔日辉煌的残垣断壁,但这次关闭标志着希腊罗马哲学权力的终结。
Christianity had (and continues to have) an uneasy relationship with natural philosophy. The messianic and evangelical aspects of the religion pointed people away from the study of nature and toward the contemplation of God. The Greek philosophers were pagans and, therefore, to be rejected, but they were also part of the extraordinary Roman Empire and closely linked with the intellectual power and managerial skills, particularly literacy and bookkeeping, that the Church needed to survive. In addition, many of the most important leaders of the early Church were trained in Greek philosophy. Augustine (354–430 CE) in particular was well trained in Greek philosophy, and he became the voice of the intellectual Church. Even so, the last vestiges of Greek philosophical education, the Academy and the Lyceum, were closed by Emperor Justinian in 529 CE. Although they had been little more than tattered remnants of their former glory for years, the closing marked the end of Greco-Roman philosophical power.
基督教内部充满争议,异端问题时有发生。多纳图斯派和阿里乌斯派对早在公元 3 世纪就源自罗马的神学的挑战导致了公元325 年的尼西亚会议和尼西亚信经的颁布,确立了正统基督教。甚至圣经的所有权也成了一个问题,在许多地方,只有神职人员才被合法允许拥有圣经。由于识字能力主要局限于教会成员,因此这项限制并不难执行,而识字能力的缺乏意味着希腊语材料同样难以获得。
Christianity was fraught with internal controversy, and the problem of heresy was frequent. The Donatists’ and Arians’ challenge to the theology that emanated from Rome as early as the third century led to the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE and the promulgation of the Niceaen Creed to establish orthodoxy. Even ownership of Bibles became an issue, and in many places only the clergy were legally allowed to own them. With literacy largely confined to members of the Church, this was not a difficult restriction to enforce, and the lack of literacy meant that Greek material was equally inaccessible.
由于蓄意和意外的破坏、丢失或拒绝,自然哲学的知识遗产在拉丁西部(罗马帝国的西部土地,拉丁语是教会和少数知识阶层的语言)大部分消失了。一些文本和思想在西方的零星地区幸存下来,而在东罗马帝国(仍然使用希腊语),拜占庭保留了更多的材料。幸存下来的是希波克拉底和盖伦关于医学的部分著作,因为教会有义务照顾病人;欧几里得的部分著作;亚里士多德逻辑的片段;柏拉图的部分著作,特别是《蒂迈欧篇》;以及托勒密的一些天文学思想,它们被用来帮助维护日历。许多基督徒认为他们生活在圣经预言的末日,所以即使有旧知识,他们也没有什么动力去保存或研究它们。虽然哲学之光从未熄灭完全在西方,它变得相当黯淡,剩下的部分又回到了神学中。
Through deliberate and accidental destruction, loss, or rejection, the intellectual heritage of natural philosophy largely disappeared in the Latin West (the western lands of the Roman Empire where Latin was the language of the Church and the small educated class). Some texts and ideas survived in scattered pockets in the West, while in the eastern empire (where Greek was still used) Byzantium held on to more material. What survived were parts of the work of Hippocrates and Galen on medicine, because of the duty of the Church to care for the sick; parts of Euclid; fragments of Aristotle’s logic; parts of Plato, particularly Timaeus; and some of the ideas of astronomy from Ptolemy, which were used to help keep up the calendars. Many Christians thought they were living in the end days of biblical prophecy, so there was little impetus to preserve or study the old knowledge even if it were available. While the light of philosophy never went out completely in the West, it was dimmed considerably, and what remained was folded back into theology.
在东方,拜占庭帝国存续的时间更长,并保留了更多希腊哲学与基督教学术相结合的遗产。东罗马帝国的首都是新罗马,由君士坦丁大帝于公元330 年在希腊小镇拜占庭建立。到 408 年,它正式被称为君士坦丁堡(直到 1453 年被奥斯曼帝国攻陷后才更名为伊斯坦布尔)。作为东罗马帝国的首都,这座城市吸引了贸易,并成为教育和工业中心。在君士坦丁堡工作的最重要的自然哲学家之一是约翰·菲洛波努斯(约 490-约 570 年)。虽然深受亚里士多德自然哲学的影响,但他是第一批批评亚里士多德思想是自然哲学(而不是基于神学的批评)的学者之一。菲洛波努斯驳斥了亚里士多德的落体理论(较重的物体比较轻的物体下落得更快),他说,你实际上可以观察到,两个不同重量的物体的下落速度几乎没有差别。伽利略引用菲洛波努斯作为他拒绝亚里士多德物理学的理由之一。
In the east, the Byzantine Empire survived longer and maintained more of the heritage of Greek philosophy combined with Christian scholarship. The capitol of the eastern empire was Nova Roma, founded in 330 CE at the small Greek town of Byzantion by Emperor Constantine. By 408 it was officially known as Constantinople (until it became Istanbul after it fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453). As the capitol of the Eastern Roman Empire the city attracted trade and became a center for education and industry. One of the most important natural philosophers who worked in Constantinople was John Philoponus (c. 490–c. 570). Although strongly influenced by Aristotelian natural philosophy, he was one of the first scholars to criticize Aristotle’s ideas as natural philosophy (as opposed to criticism based on theology). Philoponus rejected Aristotle’s theory of falling bodies (heavier bodies fall faster than lighter bodies) by saying you could actually observe that there was little or no difference in the rate of fall of two objects of different weights. Galileo would cite Philoponus as one of his reasons for rejecting Aristotelian physics.
拜占庭帝国的伟大成就之一是 537 年修建的圣索菲亚大教堂,这是米利都的伊西多尔(活跃于 530 年)和特拉勒斯的安特米乌斯(约 474-约 533 年)设计的一座建筑杰作。他们都是出色的数学家,圣索菲亚大教堂复杂的曲线和拱门都是在建筑设计中通过数学计算得出的。后来君士坦丁堡被入侵的穆斯林军队攻陷,大教堂被改建为清真寺。
One of the great achievements of the Byzantine Empire was the building of the Hagia Sophia in 537, a masterpiece of architecture designed by Isidore of Miletus (fl. 530) and Anthemius of Tralles (c. 474–c. 533). Both were capable mathematicians and the Hagia Sophia’s complex curves and arches were worked out mathematically in the design of the building. When Constantinople later fell to invading Muslim forces, the cathedral was converted to a mosque.
拜占庭人最著名的发明之一也是最神秘的发明之一。大约公元 672 年,拜占庭海军舰艇使用燃烧武器对付入侵的阿拉伯船只。这种被称为“希腊火”的燃烧液体可以用风箱或泵喷洒。水无法扑灭火焰。传统上,希腊火的发明归功于卡利尼库斯,他是腓尼基(现代叙利亚和黎巴嫩的部分地区)的建筑师和炼金术士,当该地区被穆斯林控制时,他逃到了君士坦丁堡。这项发明更有可能是几位炼金术士在亚历山大的化学知识基础上完成的。希腊火的神秘之处不仅在于它的发明,还在于它的成分。尽管有很多希腊火的用途和功效描述,配方是国家机密。随着时间的推移,配方要么被遗忘,要么炼金术士无法获得基本材料。最后一次使用希腊火似乎是在 1099 年。直到今天,没有人知道秘密配方是什么,尽管它可能涉及硫磺和沥青。
One of the most famous inventions of the Byzantines was also one of the most mysterious. Around 672, Byzantine naval ships used an incendiary weapon against invading Arab ships. Known as “Greek fire” it was a flaming liquid that could be sprayed using bellows or pumps. Water would not extinguish the flames. Traditionally, the creation of Greek fire has been credited to Callinicus, an architect and alchemist from Phoenice (parts of modern-day Syria and Lebanon) who fled to Constantinople when the region came under Muslim control. It is more likely that the invention was the work of several alchemists building on chemical knowledge that came from Alexandria. The mystery is about not only the invention of Greek fire but its composition. Although there are many descriptions of its use and effectiveness, the formula was a state secret. Over time the formula was either forgotten or the alchemists lost access to the base materials. The last use of Greek fire seems to have been in 1099. To this day, no one knows what the secret formula was, although it likely involved sulfur and bitumen.
在和平时期,君士坦丁堡是地中海各地学者的重要聚会场所,亚里士多德、托勒密、盖伦等人的作品在这里传播、借鉴和批评。和平时期从未持续很长时间,尽管君士坦丁堡是一座正式的基督教城市,但它在 1204 年被十字军洗劫,标志着衰落的开始。帝国陷入了长期的战争时期,君士坦丁堡于 1453 年 5 月 29 日被奥斯曼人占领。拜占庭帝国的难民逃到威尼斯和热那亚等地,并作为文艺复兴的一部分,为人们对希腊知识的兴趣的复苏做出了贡献。
In times of peace, Constantinople was an important meeting place for scholars from around the Mediterranean world and the works of Aristotle, Ptolemy, Galen, and many others were spread, built upon, and critiqued. Peace time was never long and despite being officially a Christian city, Constantinople was sacked by the Crusaders in 1204, marking the start of a decline. The empire fell into a long period of warfare, and Constantinople was taken by the Ottomans on May 29, 1453. Refugees from the Byzantine Empire escaped to places such as Venice and Genoa and contributed to the revival of interest in Greek knowledge as part of the Renaissance.
罗马帝国灭亡所造成的真空也影响到了地中海的东南侧。居住在阿拉伯半岛和中东的人们可以方便地与亚洲、非洲和欧洲进行贸易,并且出现了许多可以进入波斯和拜占庭市场的重要中心。领土冲突以及基于文化和宗教差异的斗争导致该地区出现了许多独立国家。在这段动荡时期,穆罕默德开始努力让阿拉伯人民皈依他的新宗教。由于无法在麦加取得重大进展,他于 622 年前往雅特里布(后来的麦地那)。这次旅行被称为希吉拉,标志着伊斯兰世界建立的第一步。
The void created by the collapse of Rome also had an effect on the southeast side of the Mediterranean. The people who lived on the Arabian Peninsula and in the Middle East were conveniently placed to trade with Asia, Africa, and Europe, and a number of important centers developed that had access to both Persian and Byzantine markets. Territorial conflicts as well as struggles based on cultural and religious differences resulted in the emergence of a number of independent states in the region. In this period of turmoil, Muhammad began his efforts to convert the people of Arabia to his new religion. Unable to gain significant inroads in Mecca, he traveled to Yathrib (later Medina) in 622. This trip, called the Hegira, marked the first step toward the foundation of the Islamic world.
公元 630 年,穆罕默德返回麦加,随后,传教士和商人通过和平劝说以及剑与圣战,掀起了一波皈依伊斯兰教的浪潮。到公元 632 年穆罕默德去世时,阿拉伯半岛大部分地区都皈依了伊斯兰教。公元 641 年,叙利亚(之前是拜占庭的一个省)、巴勒斯坦和波斯也皈依了伊斯兰教;一年后,埃及被第一批哈里发控制,他们既是政治统治者,也是宗教统治者。在伍麦叶哈里发的统治下,征服仍在继续,到公元 750 年,伊斯兰帝国从西部的西班牙一直延伸到东部的印度河。
Muhammad’s return to Mecca in 630 was followed by a wave of conversions both through peaceful exhortations by preachers and traders and by the sword and the jihad or holy war. By the time of his death in 632, most of the Arabian Peninsula had been converted to Islam. Syria (previously a Byzantine province), Palestine, and Persia followed by 641; a year later, Egypt came under the control of the first caliphs, who were both political and religious rulers. Under the Umayyad caliphs the conquests continued, and by 750 the Islamic Empire ran from Spain in the west to the Indus River in the east.
占领中东许多最重要的学术中心,特别是亚历山大城,使伊斯兰学者控制了重要的知识资源。随着阿拉伯世界的实力不断增强,伊斯兰学术也不断发展,首先翻译和整合了希腊罗马世界的哲学,然后在研究和批判分析方面建立了非常高水平的能力。然而,直到最近,西方科学史学家才将伊斯兰自然哲学家视为希腊作品的模仿者,并将其传递给欧洲学者。这种偏见是如此明显,以至于许多较早的历史文本只使用了阿拉伯名称的拉丁语版本,从而表明唯一重要的伊斯兰作品是西欧学者使用的。这种对真实和创新研究的排斥或否认的原因是,尽管伊斯兰自然哲学家能够接触到希腊材料,但却未能对其进行扩展,而同样的材料在欧洲学者手中引发了自然哲学的革命和现代科学的创造。
The capture of many of the most important centers of learning in the Middle East, particularly Alexandria, gave Islamic scholars control of vital intellectual resources. As the strength of the Arabic world grew, so did Islamic scholarship, first translating and integrating the philosophies of the Greco-Roman world and then establishing a very high level of competence in research and critical analysis. Yet, until recently, Western historians of science have regarded Islamic natural philosophers as little more than imitators of Greek work and a conduit through which it passed to European scholars. So clear was this prejudice that many older history texts used only the Latin version of Arabic names, thereby suggesting that the only significant Islamic works were those used by Western European scholars. The reason for this dismissal or denial of authentic and innovative study was the idea that Islamic natural philosophers, despite access to the Greek material, failed to expand upon it, whereas the same material in the hands of European scholars led to a revolution in natural philosophy and the creation of modern science.
2.9伊斯兰帝国与拜占庭帝国,750-1000 年
2.9 ISLAMIC AND BYZANTINE EMPIRES, 750–1000
最近的奖学金授予伊斯兰思想家在塑造后来的自然哲学家的工作方面发挥更大的作用。伊斯兰学者并没有毫无异议地接受希腊思想,他们不仅将自己的批判性思维融入了他们不仅会利用现有的材料,还会进行自己的原创研究。他们也比亚里士多德或柏拉图哲学家更愿意检验思想,尽管这不应与实验主义(使用不同的确定性哲学概念)相混淆,但由于这些学者的使用,它已成为自然哲学的一种可接受的工具。
More recent scholarship awards Islamic thinkers a far greater role in shaping the work of later natural philosophers. Islamic scholars did not accept Greek thought unchallenged and added not only their critical thinking to the body of material available but also their own original research. They were also far more willing to test ideas than the Aristotelian or Platonic philosophers had been, and although this should not be confused with experimentalism (which uses a different philosophic conception of certainty), it became an acceptable tool for natural philosophy because of its use by these scholars.
如同基督教和犹太教,伊斯兰神学的知识和精神层面也存在着矛盾,但它的某些信条使其适合用于自然研究,特别是如果对信仰的要素进行广义的解释的话。伊斯兰神学的五大支柱之一是清真言,即信条的职业,它本质上是号召所有信徒阅读伊斯兰教的圣书《古兰经》。这推动了识字运动,并推广阿拉伯语作为从西边的伊比利亚半岛到东边与中国边境的统一语言。第二个支柱是朝觐,即前往麦加朝圣,它把这个幅员辽阔的帝国的人民聚集在一起,即使不同地区在政治上并未统一。这建立了个人接触、贸易和思想交流的联系。印度数学、中国天文学和发明以及希腊化的波斯文化与丝绸、象牙和香料一起沿着朝觐和贸易路线传播开来。其中最著名的要数丝绸之路,这条漫长的贸易路线连接了中国和阿拉伯世界。丝绸之路最让人印象深刻的是从东方到西方的奇异产品,但它也带来了包括印度数学和中国炼金术在内的思想。
As in Christianity and Judaism, there was a tension between the intellectual and spiritual aspects of Islamic theology, but certain of its tenets made it amenable to the study of nature, particularly if the elements of faith were interpreted broadly. One of the five pillars of the faith was Shahadah, the profession of the creed, which essentially called all the faithful to read the Q’ran, the holy book of Islam. This resulted in a push toward literacy and the promotion of Arabic as a unifying language from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the border with China in the east. A second pillar, the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, brought together the people of the far-flung empire, even when different regions were not politically unified. This created ties of personal contact, trade, and intellectual exchange. Indian mathematics, Chinese astronomy and inventions, and Hellenized Persian culture flowed up and down the pilgrimage and trade routes along with silk, ivory, and spices. The most famous of these arteries was the Silk Road, the lengthy trade route that connected China to the Arabic world. While the Silk Road is best remembered for the exotic products that moved from east to west, it also brought ideas including Hindu mathematics and Chinese alchemy.
与《圣经》相比, 《古兰经》本身也促使欧洲人对研究自然产生了更积极的态度。《古兰经》对信条和礼拜仪式的规定更为精确(减少了分裂的可能性),但也更加世俗,呼吁信徒将自然作为上帝创造的一部分进行研究。《古兰经》的许多章节都将知识和获取知识视为神圣的。穆罕默德最著名的名言之一是“从摇篮到坟墓都要寻求知识”。伊斯兰宗教生活的中心是清真寺,特别是在阿拉伯地区以外的地区,清真寺是阿拉伯语学校。许多清真寺学校或maktab发展成为更广泛的教育机构,并基本上成为第一批大学,为学生提供高级学习,并为学者提供图书馆等研究设施。
The Q’ran itself also contributed to a more positive attitude toward the study of nature than the Bible did for Europeans. It was more precise about creed and liturgy (reducing the potential for schism), but was also more worldly, calling on the faithful to study nature as part of God’s creation. Many of its passages present knowledge and the acquisition of knowledge as sacred. One of Muhammad’s most famous sayings was “Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave.” The center of Islamic religious life was the mosque, which, particularly outside the Arabic regions, served as a school of Arabic literacy. Many mosque schools, or maktab, developed into more extensive educational institutions and became essentially the first universities, offering advanced studies for students and research facilities, such as libraries, for scholars.
另一个不容忽视的方面是伊斯兰帝国的绝对财富。哈里发下令建立学校、图书馆、医院甚至整座城市的能力表明了他们的经济实力。有了这些资源,即使对自然哲学的兴趣不高,也能产生重大成果。伊斯兰世界收集了大量希腊以及罗马的物质和征服,以及它与拜占庭帝国的接近,意味着至少在和平时期,存在知识交流的潜力。受过教育的波斯人和叙利亚人,他们掌握着亚历山大大帝时代的希腊文化知识,成为帝国内的官僚,并带来了他们的知识遗产。
Another aspect that should not be overlooked was the sheer wealth of the Islamic empires. The ability of caliphs to order the creation of schools, libraries, hospitals, and even whole cities demonstrates their economic power. With those resources available, even a low level of interest in natural philosophy could produce significant results. The Islamic world received large collections of Greek and Roman material along with their conquests, and its proximity to the Byzantine Empire meant, at least in times of peace, a potential for intellectual exchange. Educated Persians and Syrians, with their knowledge of Greek culture running back to the time of Alexander the Great, became bureaucrats within the empires and brought with them their intellectual heritage.
当阿拔斯王朝建立新王朝时,人们对希腊人的知识遗产的兴趣日益浓厚。早期的阿拔斯王朝对知识很宽容,对实用技能很感兴趣,在政府中聘用受过教育的波斯人,甚至基督徒。尤其是聂斯脱里派(来自波斯的一个基督教派别)担任宫廷医生。他们实践盖伦医学,不仅保留了盖伦工作的实用方面,还保留了其亚里士多德和柏拉图的基础。
When a new dynasty started under the Abbasids, there was increased interest in the intellectual heritage of the Greeks. The early Abbasids were intellectually tolerant and had a strong interest in practical skills, employing educated Persians and even Christians in government. In particular, the Nestorians (a Christian sect from Persia) served as court physicians. They practiced Galenic medicine, preserving not only the practical aspects of Galen’s work but its Aristotelian and Platonic foundation as well.
762 年,阿拔斯王朝哈里发曼苏尔在底格里斯河畔建立了新首都巴格达。他还开创了将希腊语和叙利亚语文本翻译成阿拉伯语的传统。他的孙子哈伦·拉希德(766-809 年)继续这项工作,甚至派人去拜占庭寻找手稿。然而,最伟大的思想发展发生在哈伦的儿子马蒙的统治下,他在 815 年左右创建了Bait al-hikmah或智慧屋。这里既是研究中心,拥有一个大型图书馆和一个天文台,又是学校,吸引了当时许多最重要的学者。这个由国家支持的事业还负责将大部分希腊语、波斯语和印度语材料翻译成阿拉伯语。
In 762 the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur established a new capital, Baghdad, on the Tigris River. He also began a tradition of translation of Greek and Syriac texts into Arabic. His grandson, Harun al-Rashid (766–809), continued this work and even sent people to Byzantium to look for manuscripts. However, the greatest intellectual developments came under Harun’s son, al-Ma’mun, who around 815 created the Bait al-hikmah or House of Wisdom. This was part research center, containing an extensive library and an observatory, and part school, attracting many of the most important scholars of the day. This state-supported enterprise was also responsible for the majority of the translation of Greek, Persian, and Indian material into Arabic.
马蒙研究中心的负责人是胡奈因·伊本·伊斯哈格 (Hunayn ibn Ishaq,808-73 年),他是一名聂斯脱里派基督徒和医生,从小就精通双语(阿拉伯语和叙利亚语),后来学习了希腊语,可能是在亚历山大学习的。他翻译了 100 多部作品,其中许多是医学著作。他的儿子和其他亲戚继续翻译工作,特别是欧几里得的《几何原本》和托勒密的《天文学大成》,这两部作品都成为伊斯兰学者的重要基础文献。到 1000 年,几乎所有现存的希腊医学、自然哲学、逻辑和数学著作都被翻译成了阿拉伯语。
The head of al-Ma’mun’s research center was Hunayn ibn Ishaq (808–73), a Nestorian Christian and physician, who grew up bilingual (Arabic and Syriac) and later learned Greek, perhaps in Alexandria. He translated over 100 works, many of them medical. His son and other relatives continued the translation work, in particular Euclid’s Elements and Ptolemy’s Almagest, both of which became important foundational texts for Islamic scholars. By 1000 almost every surviving work of Greek medicine, natural philosophy, logic, and mathematics had been translated into Arabic.
伊斯兰教对教育的兴趣促进了圣人或智者的出现和崇高地位,亚里士多德等哲学家被尊为圣人。教育体系包括哲学和自然哲学,全面教育的组成部分。从九世纪开始一直持续到十二世纪左右,伊斯兰文化蓬勃发展,被称为伊斯兰文艺复兴。在此期间,伊斯兰学者延续了希腊人的知识传统,但存在重要差异。伊斯兰学者必须在其宗教框架内开展工作。虽然有自由和保守时期,且往往随着统治者的更迭而变化,但不能直接采用希腊的材料。有些方面几乎没有变化就被接受了,例如托勒密天文学;有些则进行了修改,例如亚里士多德物理学中引入了上帝而不是不确定的“不动的推动者”;有些元素则被彻底拒绝,例如来自希腊和罗马的各种宇宙创世故事。
The interest in education in Islam fostered the appearance and high status of the hakim, a sage or wise man, and philosophers such as Aristotle were revered as sages. The educational system included philosophy and natural philosophy as components of a well-rounded education. There was a great flowering of culture, known as the Islamic Renaissance, starting in the ninth century and running until about the twelfth century. During this period Islamic scholars continued the intellectual traditions of the Greeks, but there were important differences. Islamic scholars had to conduct their work within the framework of their religion. While there were liberal and conservative periods, often varying with a change in rulers, Greek material could not simply be adopted outright. Some aspects were accepted with little change, such as Ptolemaic astronomy; some were modified, such as the introduction of God rather than an indefinite “unmoved mover” in Aristotelian physics; and some elements were rejected outright, such as various cosmological creation stories that came from Greek and Roman sources.
除了对异教材料的认可本身所固有的质疑之外,伊斯兰学者还在自然哲学中追求新思想。这在一定程度上是环境所致,因为学者们往往无法接触到完整的希腊思想,因此可能对亚里士多德光学等只有片面的了解。因此,他们必须就这一主题进行独立研究。与亚里士多德或柏拉图相比,伊斯兰学者对检验观察结果也更感兴趣,部分原因是他们对自然哲学知识的获取概念不太理性。换句话说,他们更注重实践。这种对知识获取的态度与伊斯兰社会对受过教育阶层的期望相吻合,因为受过教育和富裕的人应该能够涉足诗歌和音乐、历史和哲学,以及骑术和剑术等武术,以及了解商业和贸易等实际事务。在许多伊斯兰最伟大的自然哲学家的生活中,学识和宫廷行为密切相关,而欧洲骑士的许多骑士精神特征实际上都是从伊斯兰世界吸收的。
In addition to the questioning inherent in the ratification of pagan material, Islamic scholars pursued new ideas in natural philosophy. This was partly a result of circumstances, since scholars often lacked access to the complete corpus of Greek thought and so might have only a fragmentary idea of, for example, Aristotelian optics. It was then necessary to do independent work on the topic. Islamic scholars were also more interested in testing observations than Aristotle or Plato had been, in part because they had a less intellectualized concept of the acquisition of natural philosophic knowledge. In other words, they had a more hands-on approach. This attitude toward knowledge acquisition coincided with expectations for the educated class in Islamic society, since the educated and affluent were supposed to be able to turn their hand to poetry and music, history and philosophy, and martial arts such as riding and swordplay, as well as understanding practical matters such as commerce and trade. Scholarship and courtly behavior were intimately linked in the lives of many of Islam’s greatest natural philosophers, and many of the traits associated with chivalry for the European knights were in fact adopted from the Islamic world.
伊斯兰学者更愿意测试自然的另一个原因是他们生活在一个更加物质化和技术先进的社会。阿拉伯世界的工艺技巧非常精湛,当时只有贸易伙伴中国能超越他们。工匠制作了各种各样的工具和仪器,人们既欣赏精细的作品,又有资金支持。这种高水平技能的两个例子是玻璃制造和冶金。玻璃制造是一个大规模的产业,生产了许多伊斯兰学者用来研究光学和炼金术的工具,而金属工人则生产星盘和浑天仪等仪器。金属加工的另一个发展引起了人们的兴趣(和令欧洲人感到恐惧的是,大马士革钢制成了剑,使伊斯兰军队在与十字军使用的武器的较量中占据了优势(无论从字面上还是从比喻上来说)。
Another reason Islamic scholars were more willing to test nature was because they lived in a more materially oriented and technically advanced society. The craft skills of the Arabic world were extremely accomplished, surpassed in this period only by China, which was a trade partner. Artisans made a wide range of tools and instruments, and there was both an appreciation for fine work and the money to support it. Two examples of this high level of skill can be seen in glass-making and metallurgy. Glass-making was a large-scale industry that produced many of the tools used by Islamic scholars to investigate optics and alchemy, while metalworkers produced instruments such as astrolabes and armillary spheres. Another development in metalwork that intrigued (and terrified) Europeans was Damascus steel, which in the form of swords gave the armies of Islam an edge (literally and figuratively) over the weapons used by the Crusaders.
许多最伟大的伊斯兰自然哲学家都接受过医生教育,完美地结合了实践和理论训练。这意味着他们首先通过盖伦的资料接触到希腊哲学。虽然对健康和疾病的理智理解与手术和接骨的实际问题之间存在区别,但伊斯兰医生的技术技能超过了希腊罗马世界,远远超过了他们的欧洲邻居。技术能力和工具延伸到腹部手术和白内障摘除。眼科手术与视觉理论和更理论化的光学研究有关。因此,医学是伊斯兰世界自然哲学的完美渠道。它在神学上是合理的,因为照顾病人是信仰慈善要求的一部分,它既实用又有智力,但不是一门手艺,因此为上层阶级所接受。由于这些特点,医生经常在政府和宫廷中担任高级职位。
Many of the greatest Islamic natural philosophers were educated as physicians, which perfectly combined practical and theoretical training. This meant that they were first introduced to Greek philosophy through Galenic material. While a distinction existed between the intellectual understanding of health and disease and the practical matters of surgery and bone-setting, the technical skills of Islamic practitioners surpassed those of the Greco-Roman world and far outstripped their European neighbors. Technical abilities and tools extended to abdominal surgery and cataract removal. Eye surgery was linked to theories of vision and the more theoretical study of optics. Thus, medicine was a perfect conduit for natural philosophy in the Islamic world. It was theologically sound, since care for the ill was part of the charity requirements of the faith, and it was both practical and intellectual without being a craft, and thus acceptable for the upper class. With these characteristics, physicians frequently held high posts in government and at court.
农业是伊斯兰学者和从业者的另一个专业领域。伊斯兰教的到来使许多农民摆脱了他们以前的领主;这种自由加上识字率的提高,促进了农业和植物学方面的实践和理论工作的蓬勃发展。部分原因是由于伊斯兰世界内部建立了沟通渠道,部分原因是农民享有自由(与拉丁欧洲的农民相比),对有用植物的兴趣导致了历史上最大的生物材料转移之一,因为农作物及其特定的农业需求从东方的中国转移到整个伊斯兰世界,再到西方的伊比利亚半岛。移植作物的部分清单包括香蕉、棉花、椰子树、硬质小麦、柑橘类水果、芭蕉、大米、高粱、西瓜和甘蔗。801 年发生了一次不太实际的生物交换,当时阿拔斯帝国的第五任哈里发哈伦·拉希德(统治时间为 786-809 年)向查理曼大帝赠送了一头大象作为礼物。收集实用和装饰性植物(玫瑰、郁金香和鸢尾也是大规模植物转移的一部分)促使伊斯兰学者创建植物百科全书,例如迪纳瓦里(828-96 年)的《植物之书》和伊本·贝塔尔(约 1188-1248 年)的《Kitab al-jami' li-mufradat al-adwiya wa al-aghdhiya》,这是一本列出 1,400 多种植物及其药用用途的药典。世界上最大的植物园之一于 11 世纪在托莱多建立。
Agriculture was another area of expertise for Islamic scholars and practition-ers. The coming of Islam freed many farmers from their previous overlords; this freedom combined with increased literacy encouraged a burgeoning of practical and theoretical work on agriculture and botany. In part because of the lines of communication that were established within the Islamic world, and in part because of the freedom that farmers enjoyed (in comparison to the peasants of Latin Europe), interest in useful plants led to one of the largest transfers of biological material in history, as crop plants and their particular farming needs were transferred from China in the east throughout the Islamic world to the Iberian Peninsula in the west. A partial list of transplanted crops includes bananas, cotton, coconut palms, hard wheat, citrus fruit, plantain, rice, sorghum, watermelons, and sugar cane. A somewhat less practical biological exchange occurred in 801 when Harun al-Rashid, the fifth caliph of the Abbasid empire (ruling from 786–809), sent an elephant as a present to Charlemagne. The collecting of plants, both useful and decorative (roses, tulips, and irises were also part of the great plant transfer) led Islamic scholars to create encyclopedias of plants such as al-Dinawari’s (828–96) The Book of Plants and Ibn al-Baitar’s (c. 1188–1248) Kitab al-jami’ li-mufradat al-adwiya wa al-aghdhiya, a pharmacopoeia listing over 1,400 plants and their medicinal uses. One of the world’s largest botanical gardens was established in Toledo in the eleventh century.
伊斯兰文艺复兴时期最有影响力的人物之一是阿布·阿里·侯赛因·伊本·阿卜杜拉·伊本·西纳 (980-1037),他的生平记载在他的自传和学生的回忆录中。他是一个神童,十岁时就能背诵《古兰经》,13 岁时开始接受医生培训,尽管他也广泛学习哲学。在治愈了萨曼王朝统治者努赫·伊本·曼苏尔的疾病后,他被允许使用皇家图书馆。从那时起,伊本·西纳开始探索从数学到诗学的广泛材料。由于他医术高明,他在多位统治者的宫廷中找到了工作,但那是一个动荡的时代,他参与了许多政治斗争,并被伊朗中西部哈马丹的王子沙姆斯·阿德·杜拉任命为维齐尔,但最终却被迫罢免职位并被监禁了一段时间。
One of the most powerful minds of the Islamic Renaissance was Abu ’Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina (980–1037), whose life was chronicled in his autobiography and the memoirs of his students. He was a child prodigy who had memorized the Q’ran by the age of ten and had begun training as a physician when he was 13, although he also studied widely in philosophy. After curing the Samanid ruler Nuh ibn Mansur of an illness, he was allowed to use the Royal Library. It was then that ibn Sina began to explore a vast range of material from mathematics to poetics. Because of his skills as a physician, he found employment at the courts of various rulers, but it was a turbulent time, and he was involved in a number of political struggles that saw him made a vizier by Prince Shams ad-Dawlah in Hamadan, a region in west-central Iran, only to be forced from office and jailed for a time.
1022 年,伊本·西那在他所服务的白益王朝王子去世后离开了哈马丹,移居伊斯法罕。他进入了当地王子的宫廷,在相对平静的生活中度过了晚年,完成了他在哈马丹开始的主要工作。他著作颇丰,创作了 250 多部作品,涉及医学、物理学、地质学、数学、神学和哲学。他写了很多东西,以至于他特制了一个马鞍,这样他就可以骑马写作。他最著名的两本书是Kitab al-Shifa'(《医书》)和Al Qanun fi al-Tibb(《医典》)。尽管书名如此,Kitab al-Shifa'实际上是一部科学百科全书,涵盖逻辑、自然哲学、心理学、几何学、天文学、算术和音乐。虽然它包括希腊思想的许多方面,特别是亚里士多德和欧几里得,但它并不是简单地复述这些作品。 《阿维森纳全集》成为医学知识最重要的来源之一。它既是盖伦医学的翻译,也是对盖伦医学的评论,其中可能首次讨论了精神疾病作为一种疾病。当伊本西纳的作品被拉丁学者发现时,他的名字被译为阿维森纳,他的书籍推动了重新发现亚里士多德的动力。
Ibn Sina left Hamadan in 1022, on the death of the Buyid prince he had been serving, and moved to Isfahan. He entered the court of the local prince and spent the last years of his life in relative calm, completing the major works he began in Hamadan. He was prolific, producing over 250 works covering medicine, physics, geology, mathematics, theology, and philosophy. He wrote so much that he had a special pannier made so he could write while on horseback. His two most famous books were the Kitab al-Shifa’ (The Book of Healing) and Al Qanun fi al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine). Despite its title, Kitab al-Shifa’ is actually a scientific encyclopedia covering logic, natural philosophy, psychology, geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music. Although including many aspects of Greek thought, particularly Aristotle and Euclid, it does not simply recount those works. The Al Qanun fi al-Tibb became one of the most important sources of medical knowledge. It was both a translation of and a commentary on Galenic medicine and contains what is perhaps the first discussion of mental illness as a form of disease. When ibn Sina’s work was discovered by Latin scholars, his name was translated as Avicenna, and his books helped fuel a drive to rediscover Aristotle.
与伊本西纳同时代的人是阿布·阿里·哈桑·伊本·海赛姆(约 965 年 - 约 1039 年)。尽管伊本·海赛姆没有接受过医学培训,但他研究过视觉、视觉疾病和光学理论。在他的《光学之书》中,他首次从光学角度详细描述和说明了眼睛的各个部分,并挑战了托勒密的亚里士多德光学。托勒密支持视觉的外射理论,该理论基于一种从眼睛发出并与物体相交以产生视觉的光线,而伊本·海赛姆则支持内射理论,该理论认为光线照射到物体上,然后光线从物体传播到眼睛。他还描述了伊本·海赛姆从数学上解释了折射,并进行了一系列实验来证明光学行为。与伊本·西纳一样,伊本·海赛姆也著作颇丰,撰写了 200 多篇论文,因此他被欧洲学者称为 Alhazen。
A contemporary of ibn Sina was Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham (c. 965–c. 1039). Although ibn al-Haytham was not trained as a physician, he worked on vision, diseases of vision, and the theory of optics. In his Kitab al-Manazir (Book of Optics) he presented the first detailed descriptions and illustrations of the parts of the eye in optical terms and challenged the Aristotelian optics of Ptolemy. Where Ptolemy had supported the extramission theory of vision that was based on a kind of ray coming out of the eye and intersecting objects to produce sight, ibn al-Haytham supported the intromission theory that posited that light struck objects and that rays then traveled from the object into the eye. He also described refraction mathematically and undertook a series of experiments to demonstrate optical behavior. Like ibn Sina, ibn al-Haytham was prolific, writing over 200 treatises and through which he became known to European scholars as Alhazen.
除了医生为自然哲学创造的社会和哲学空间之外,伊斯兰学者还获得了一个强大的新工具,即改进的数学系统。这个工具就是印度-阿拉伯数字和占位符数学。它最初从印度引进,深刻地改变了伊斯兰学术,开辟了新的问题类别和计算方法。它由穆罕默德·伊本·穆萨·花拉子米(约 780 年 - 约 850 年)在名为《印度计算艺术》的著作中开创,除了作为现代符号系统前身的符号集之外,还引入了零作为数学对象。虽然希腊人已经理解无的概念,但他们明确拒绝“无”作为数学术语,而且它不是几何学的必要概念。
In addition to the social and philosophical space created for natural philosophy by the physicians, Islamic scholars also gained a powerful new tool in the form of an improved mathematical system. The tool was Hindu-Arabic numerals and placeholder mathematics. Originally an import from India, it profoundly changed Islamic scholarship, opening up new classes of problems and methods of calculation. It was pioneered by Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (c. 780–c. 850) in a work called Concerning the Hindu Art of Reckoning, which, in addition to the symbol set that was the precursor to the modern notation system, introduced zero as a mathematical object. While the Greeks had understood the concept of nothing, they had explicitly rejected “nothing” as a mathematical term, and it was not a necessary concept for geometry.
花拉子米接着创作了《Al-jabr wa'l muqabalah》,在西方被称为《代数》;“算法”一词就源于他的名字。未知数的求解正是从这项工作中发展起来的。花拉子米还展示了各种二次方程的解,包括使用平方根。历史学家一直争论不休,他是一位独创的思想家,还是仅仅是早期著作(如欧几里得的《几何原本》和托勒密的《天文学大成》的部分内容)的编纂者。尽管除非找到新材料,否则答案无法确定,但诸如花拉子米计算的位置坐标比托勒密更准确等线索表明,他的智力能够完成艰巨而严谨的工作。
Al-Khwarizmi went on to produce Al-jabr wa’l muqabalah, which became known in the West as Algebra; we get the term “algorithm” from his name. It was from this work that solving for unknowns was developed. Al-Khwarizmi also demonstrated solutions for various quadratic equations including the use of square roots. Historians have argued over whether he was an original thinker or was only a compiler of earlier work such as parts of Euclid’s Elements and Ptolemy’s Almagest. Although the answer cannot be definitive unless new material is found, clues such as the fact that al-Khwarizmi’s calculation of coordinates for locations were more accurate than those of Ptolemy suggest an intellect capable of difficult and exacting work.
这一时期最伟大的伊斯兰自然哲学家是阿布·拉汗·比鲁尼 (973-1048/50)。无论以何种标准衡量,比鲁尼都是一个博学者,他的研究涵盖天文学、物理学、地理和制图学、历史、法律、语言(他精通希腊语、叙利亚语和梵语,并将印度手稿翻译成阿拉伯语)、医学、占星术、数学、语法和哲学。他被统治者马哈茂德 (Mahmud) 带到印度 (不清楚是以客人还是囚犯的身份),在那里他撰写了《印度》这部巨著,涵盖了印度文化的社会、地理和知识方面。他与伊本·西那通信,被称为 al-Ustadh,意思是“大师”或“教授”。他的成就包括计算地球半径,发现它是 6,339.6 公里(非常接近现代值);对日食和月食进行详细观测;并在其作品《阴影》中描写了数学与仪器的运用。
The greatest Islamic natural philosopher of the era was Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (973–1048/50). A polymath by any standard, al-Biruni’s studies covered astronomy, physics, geography and cartography, history, law, languages (he mastered Greek, Syriac, and Sanskrit and translated Indian manuscripts into Arabic), medicine, astrology, mathematics, grammar, and philosophy. He was taken by the ruler Mahmud (whether as a guest or prisoner is unclear) to India, where he composed India, a massive work that covered social, geographic, and intellectual aspects of Indian culture. He corresponded with ibn Sina and became known as al-Ustadh, meaning “Master” or “Professor.” Among his accomplishments were calculating the radius of the Earth, finding that it was 6,339.6 kilometers (extremely close to the modern value); making detailed observations of a solar and lunar eclipse; and writing about the use of mathematics and instruments in his work Shadows.
伊斯兰学者并不满足于将他们对世界的理解局限于哲学体系。他们希望运用自己的知识,而将哲学应用于物质世界的最大探索就是炼金术的研究。炼金术一词的词源概括了该研究的知识遗产。该术语的起源可能来自古埃及语khem,意为黑色。希腊语khēmia意为“埃及人实践的炼金术”,因为埃及是黑土地。在阿拉伯语中,希腊语词根被转化为al-kimiyā,意为“炼金术”,因此从阿拉伯语转化为拉丁语和英语。
Islamic scholars were not content to confine their understanding of the world to a philosophical system. They wanted to utilize their knowledge, and the greatest exploration of the application of philosophy to the material world was in the study of alchemy. The etymology of the name encapsulates the intellectual heritage of the study. The origin of the term probably came from the ancient Egyptian khem, meaning black. The Greek khēmia meant “art of transmutations practiced by the Egyptians,” since Egypt was the Black Land. In Arabic, the Greek root was transformed into al-kimiyā, meaning “the art of transmutation” and hence from Arabic into Latin and English.
炼金术在某种程度上是现代材料科学的前身,包括药理学(医学化学)、化学、采矿和冶炼、物理学和工程学的部分内容,以及生物学的各个方面,例如发酵、腐烂和繁殖的研究。从根本上讲,炼金术士试图识别、分类和系统地生产有用或有趣的物质。然而,炼金术的这一方面在我们看来可能非常有用和完整,但却被视为纯粹的技艺,根本不是研究的目的。炼金术的真正研究是操纵物质世界,特别是将一种物质转化为另一种物质。正是在这项研究中,炼金术士进入了一个具有精神和宗教含义的神秘领域。
Alchemy was in some ways the precursor to the modern material sciences of pharmacology (iatrochemistry), chemistry, mining and smelting, and parts of physics and engineering, as well as aspects of biology such as the study of fermentation, decay, and reproduction. At a basic level, alchemists were trying to identify, classify, and systematically produce useful or interesting substances. Yet this aspect of alchemy, which may seem eminently useful and complete to us, was regarded as mere craft and not the objective of the study at all. The true study of alchemy was the manipulation of the material world, particularly the transformation of substances from one kind to another. It was in this study that alchemists ventured into a mystical realm that had spiritual and religious implications.
物质的转化在许多方面都是日常生活中发生的事情。木头变成火焰,冰变成水,种子变成植物。有些转化看起来比其他转化更神奇;例如,冶炼将大块岩石转化为金属。所有操纵材料的社会都发展出了解释体系,涵盖了材料转化的过程和原因。这些解释往往是秘密的,不仅出于贸易和安全原因,还因为涉及强大的超自然力量,因此也涉及宗教问题。因此,炼金术既发展出一种外在的或公开的方面,也发展出一种深奥的或秘密的元素。
The transformation of material is in many ways an everyday occurrence. Wood turns into flame, ice turns into water, and seeds turn into plants. Some transformations seem more magical than others; smelting, for example, takes hunks of rock and transforms them into metal. All societies that manipulated materials developed systems of explanation that covered both the process and the reason materials could be transformed. These explanations were often kept secret not only for trade and safety reasons but also because powerful supernatural forces were involved and so involved religious concerns as well. Thus, alchemy developed both an exoteric, or public, aspect and an esoteric, or secret, element.
伊斯兰炼金术建立在埃及和希腊关于物质世界的思想基础之上。通过埃及的联系,炼金术发展成为赫耳墨斯主义,赫耳墨斯是埃及神托特的希腊名字,托特是书籍学习之父和文字的创造者。赫耳墨斯主义融合了埃及宗教、巴比伦占星术、柏拉图主义和斯多葛思想。赫耳墨斯文献很可能编纂于公元前二世纪,具有强烈的神秘学方面。为了完善精神层面,炼金术还受到诺斯替教的影响,诺斯替教起源于巴比伦和影响了早期基督教。诺斯替派是坚定的二元论者,他们将世界视为对立的两极,例如善与恶、光明与黑暗。某些事物的知识只能通过“灵知”获得,即来自内在意识而非理性或学习的启蒙。赫耳墨斯和诺斯替研究都获得了保密的传统,因为可能会与更强大的宗教发生冲突,而且信徒们希望保护他们的深奥知识。
Islamic alchemy was founded on Egyptian and Greek ideas about the material world. Through the Egyptian connections came Hermeticism, from Hermes, the Greek name for the Egyptian deity Thoth, the father of book learning and creator of writing. Hermeticism was a blend of Egyptian religion, Babylonian astrology, Platonism, and Stoic thought. The Hermetic documents were likely compiled in the second century BCE and had strong occult aspects. To round out the spiritual side, alchemy was also affected by Gnosticism, which started in Babylon and influenced early Christianity. The Gnostics were strong dualists who saw the world in terms of antagonistic pairs such as good and evil, light and dark. Knowledge of certain things could be gained only by “gnosis,” or enlightenment that came from inner awareness rather than reason or study. Both Hermetic and Gnostic studies acquired a heritage of secrecy because of potential conflicts with more powerful religions and the desire of adherents to guard their esoteric knowledge.
亚里士多德对物质的描述与新柏拉图主义的理想概念相结合,源自希腊。除了亚里士多德对物质的划分外,在他的《气象学》(讨论地球环境)中,地球被描述为一种金属生长的子宫。不太完美或贱金属(如铅)具有成为贵金属的自然倾向,如果条件合适,最终会达到黄金的完美状态。这与亚里士多德和柏拉图的思想有关,即分化物质(四种元素)的最初来源是单一未分化的原始物质。原始物质没有“模式”,因此炼金术士认为可以使其呈现地球物质的模式。人们通常认为,这种转变过程的关键是一种催化剂。这种药剂有许多名称,但最常见的是“贤者之石”,早在公元300 年,佐西莫斯 (Zosimos,公元300 年左右) 所著的炼金术集《Cheirokmeta》中就提到了它。贤者之石是实物、炼金术过程的产物还是精神状态,取决于炼金术士的理论。
From the Greeks came the Aristotelian description of matter combined with neo-Platonic concepts of the Ideal. In addition to Aristotle’s division of matter, in his Meteorologica (which discusses the condition of the terrestrial realm) the Earth is described as a kind of womb in which metals grow. Less perfect or base metals such as lead have a natural inclination to become noble metals, seeking ultimately the perfection of gold if the conditions were right. This was linked to both Aristotelian and Platonic ideas about the original source of differentiated matter (the four elements) from a single undifferentiated prime matter. Prime matter had no “pattern,” so the alchemists thought it could be made to take on the pattern of terrestrial matter. The key to this transmutation process was often thought to be a kind of catalyst. This agent was known by a number of names, but the most common was the “Philosopher’s Stone,” which was mentioned as early as 300 CE in the alchemical collection Cheirokmeta attributed to Zosimos (fl. 300 CE). Whether the Philosopher’s Stone was an actual object, the product of alchemical processes, or a spiritual state depended on the theory of the alchemist.
2.10炼金术符号
2.10 ALCHEMICAL SYMBOLS
炼金术符号为每个元素分配一个占星符号,为每个操作分配一个黄道十二宫符号,从而将物质世界与宇宙联系起来。
The alchemical symbols linked the material world with the universe by assigning each element an astrological symbol and each operation a sign from the zodiac.
我们还从佐西莫斯那里了解到最早从事炼金术研究的女性之一:摩西的妹妹米里安(约公元前三世纪),后来被称为被称为犹太女人玛丽亚,尽管不能确定她是否是犹太人,她也不是圣经中摩西的妹妹。米里安住在亚历山大,对化学过程很感兴趣。佐西莫斯认为高温双蒸锅是她发明的,用于使用硫磺和其他设备进行实验,她的名字在法语术语bain-marie中一直沿用到现代,指的是烹饪中的双蒸锅。
It is also from Zosimos that we learn of one of the earliest women to practice alchemical research: Miriam, sister of Moses (c. third century BCE), later known as Maria the Jewess, although it is not certain that she was Jewish and she was not the sister of the biblical Moses. Miriam lived in Alexandria and was interested in chemical processes. Zosimos attributes to her the creation of a high-temperature double-boiler for experiments using sulfur and other equipment, and her name survives to the modern age in the French term bain-marie, referring to a double-boiler in cooking.
实用技能、宗教和神秘思想以及哲学的交织,加上炼金术从业者的保密性,使得炼金术成为一种难以追溯或理解的实践。早期希腊的资料并不丰富,而且大多是实用的,涉及染色、冶炼和药理学。其中一种有趣的联系确实留存了下来,那就是行星与各种金属的联系。
The intertwining of practical skills, religious and mystical thought, and philosophy plus the secrecy of the practitioners makes alchemy a difficult practice to trace or understand. Greek material from the earlier period is not extensive and mostly practical, dealing with dyeing, smelting, and pharmacology. One of the interesting connections that does survive is the association of the planets with various metals.
随着希腊自然哲学的碎片在阿拉伯语世界中传播,关于物质世界性质和结构的文本暗示了操纵物质世界的能力。秘密知识的美妙之处在于它使一切皆有可能,因此缺乏明确的先例非但没有阻碍人们对炼金术的兴趣,反而刺激了伊斯兰思想家的创作。伊斯兰和后来的欧洲炼金术的最重要来源之一是贾比尔·伊本·哈扬的作品。他的日期不确定,但最有可能是约 722 年至约 815 年。虽然可能有一个真实的名字,但很明显,大部分归于他的作品是由十世纪穆斯林教派 Ism'iliya 编纂的;不确定哪些文本(如果有的话)是他写的。
As bits and pieces of Greek natural philosophy were disseminated through the Arabic-speaking world, the texts on the nature and structure of the material world hinted at the ability to manipulate it. The beauty of secret knowledge is that it makes all things possible, so the lack of clear antecedents, rather than hindering the interest in alchemy, actually spurred its creation among Islamic thinkers. One of the greatest sources for both Islamic and later European alchemy was the work attributed to Jābir ibn Hayyān. His dates are uncertain, but most likely c. 722 to c. 815. While there may have been a real person with that name, it is clear that the majority of work ascribed to him was compiled by the Ism’iliya, a tenth-century Muslim sect; it is not certain which, if any, texts were written by him.
贾比尔·伊本·哈扬创作了 2,000 多篇文献,其中大多数都是后来创作的,但《天平之书》和《完美大全》(拉丁文)涵盖了他的炼金术的核心方面。贾比尔从亚里士多德的基础开始,接受了四元素和四质,但扩展了亚里士多德的最小自然粒子( minima naturalia)的思想,作为金属之间差异的基础。粒子越密集,金属就越致密和越重。炼金术士的目标是通过研磨、净化和升华的过程来控制粒子的结构和堆积,将不太贵重的金属转化为黄金。该过程还受汞剂的控制,汞剂要么是催化剂,要么是变化过程中的活性成分。贾比尔将这些药剂称为药物、灵丹妙药或酊剂,这强化了金属的生物模型——金属的净化被视为类似于治愈疾病或净化身体。
Over 2,000 pieces of text have been attributed to Ja¯bir ibn Hayya¯n, most of them of much later production, but the Books of Balances and the Summa Perfectionis (in its Latin form) cover the central aspects of his alchemy. Ja¯bir starts from an Aristotelian foundation, accepting the four elements and the four qualities, but extends Aristotle’s idea of minima naturalia, or smallest natural particles, as the basis for the difference between metals. The more densely packed the particles, the denser and heavier the metal. The objective of the alchemist was to transform less noble metals into gold by manipulating the structure and packing of the particles by a process of grinding, purification, and sublimation. The process was also governed by mercurial agents that were either catalysts or active components in the process of change. These agents were referred to by Jābir as medicines, elixirs, or tinctures, which reinforced the biological model of metals – the purification of metal was seen as akin to curing disease or purification of the body.
虽然贾比尔的作品(或归于他的作品)非常有影响力,尤其是在拉丁西方,在那里他被称为 Geber,但他还是有点异类由于专注于炼金术,他在伊斯兰学者中享有盛誉。从事炼金术工作的学者中更典型的是阿布·巴克尔·穆罕默德·伊本·扎卡里亚·拉齐(约 841-925 年)。拉齐精通音乐、数学和哲学,可能还会读希腊语,成为了一位著名且备受追捧的医生。他曾担任雷伊皇家医院(现代德黑兰附近)的院长,后搬到巴格达,负责著名的穆克塔达里医院。作为一名医生,他撰写了Kitab al-Hawi fi al-tibb(《医学大全》),这是一部涵盖整个希腊罗马和伊斯兰医学的 20 卷巨著,以及al-Judari wal Hasabah(《天花和麻疹论述》),其中包含了对水痘和天花的第一份描述。
While Ja¯bir’s work (or that attributed to him) was very influential, especially in the Latin West where he was known as Geber, he was something of an anomaly among Islamic scholars because of his concentration on alchemy. More typical of those scholars engaging in alchemical work was Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Zakariya al-Razi (c. 841–925). Trained in music, mathematics, and philosophy and likely able to read Greek, al-Razi became a famous and sought-after physician. He was head of the Royal Hospital at Ray (near modern Tehran) and then moved to Baghdad where he was in charge of its famous Muqtadari Hospital. As a physician, he wrote Kitab al-Hawi fi al-tibb (The Comprehensive Book on Medicine), a massive 20-volume work that covered all of Greco-Roman and Islamic medicine, and al-Judari wal Hasabah (Treatise on Smallpox and Measles) that contained the first known description of chicken pox and smallpox.
对于拉齐来说,炼金术并不像贾比尔那样深奥,他的某些工作,如药物的开发和使用鸦片作为麻醉剂,可以看作是他医学工作的延伸。他最重要的炼金术文本《秘密中的秘密》或《秘密之书》虽然名为《秘密之书》,但并没有揭示将贱金属转化为黄金的秘密。相反,它是最早的实验室手册之一。《秘密中的秘密》分为三个部分,涵盖物质(化学品、矿物和其他物质)、设备和配方。
For al-Razi, alchemy was less esoteric than it was for Ja¯bir, and certain aspects of his work, such as the development of drugs and the use of opium as an anesthetic, can be seen as an extension of his medical work. His most important alchemical text, Secret of Secrets or the Book of Secrets, does not, despite its title, reveal the secret of transmutation of base metals into gold. Rather, it is one of the first laboratory manuals. Divided into three sections, Secret of Secrets covers substances (chemicals, minerals, and other substances), apparatus, and recipes.
设备清单非常丰富,包括烧杯、烧瓶和水壶、灯和熔炉、锤子、钳子、研钵和研杵、蒸馏器(蒸馏器)、沙浴和水浴、过滤器、量杯和漏斗。直到 19 世纪中叶,这份清单与炼金术、化学、制药和冶金实验室的标准设备几乎完全相同,其中大部分设备至今仍为化学家所熟悉。
The list of equipment was extensive, covering beakers, flasks and jugs, lamps and furnaces, hammers, tongs, mortars and pestles, alembics (stills), sand and water baths, filters, measuring vessels, and funnels. This list remained quite literally identical to the standard equipment found in alchemical, chemistry, pharmaceutical, and metallurgical laboratories until the middle of the nineteenth century, and most of it is still familiar to chemists even today.
尽管《秘密中的秘密》没有提供具体的炼金术方法,但它强烈暗示了炼金术是可以做到的。拉齐相信炼金术,并赞同贾比尔提出的炼金术理论。两人的不同之处在于拉齐专注于实际问题和系统方法。(见图2.11。)对于拉齐来说,炼金术是从处理材料的经验中发展而来的,而不是从一套假设化学行为的理论中发展而来的。由于他提供的实用建议,他的作品在拉丁西部非常受欢迎,在那里他被称为拉齐斯。
Although the Secret of Secrets did not offer a specific method of transmutation, it suggested strongly that it could be done. Al-Razi believed in transmutation and subscribed to the same general alchemical theory proposed by Ja¯bir. What separates the two is al-Razi’s concentration on practical issues and systematic approach. (See figure 2.11.) For al-Razi, alchemy developed from experience working with materials, rather than from a body of theory that presupposed chemical behavior. Because of the practical advice he offered, his work became extremely popular in the Latin West, where he was known as Rhazes.
2.11拉齐在《秘密的秘密》中列出的物质表
2.11 TABLE OF SUBSTANCES ACCORDING TO AL-RAZI IN SECRET OF SECRETS
| 矿物 | 蔬菜 | 动物 | 衍生物 |
|---|---|---|---|
(见下表) (see chart below) | 很少使用 Little used | 头发 Hair | 铅黄 Litharge (yellow lead) |
骨 Bone | 红丹 Red lead | ||
胆汁 Bile | 烧铜 Burnt copper | ||
血 Blood | 辰砂 Cinnabar | ||
牛奶 Milk | 砒霜 White arsenic | ||
尿 Urine | 烧碱 Caustic soda | ||
蛋 Egg | … … | ||
珍珠母 Mother of pearl | ETC。 Etc. | ||
喇叭 Horn | |||
… … | |||
ETC。 Etc. |
| 矿物质表 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 烈酒 | 机构 | 石头 | 硫酸 | 博拉塞斯 | 盐 |
汞 Mercury | 金子 Gold | 黄铁矿 Pyrite | 黑色的 Black | 面包硼砂 Bread borax | 甜的 Sweet |
萨尔 Sal | 银 Silver | 图蒂亚 Tutia | 白色的 White | 纳特龙 Natron | 苦的 Bitter |
氨水 Ammoniac | 铜 Copper | 蓝铜矿 Azurite | 黄色的 Yellow | 金匠硼砂 Goldsmith’s borax | 苏打 Soda |
雌黄 Orpiment | 铁 Iron | 孔雀石 Malachite | 绿色的 Green | 尿液中的盐分 Salt of urine | |
雄黄 Realgar | 锡 Tin | 绿松石 Turquoise | 红色的 Red | … … | 熟石灰 Slaked lime |
硫 Sulphur | 带领 Lead | 赤铁矿 Haematite | ETC。 Etc. | 橡木盐 Salt of oak | |
中国领先 Chinese lead | 砒霜 White arsenic | (钾肥) (Potash) | |||
科尔 Kohl | … … | ||||
云母 Mica | ETC。 Etc. | ||||
石膏 Gypsum | |||||
玻璃 Glass | |||||
来源:改编自拉齐的《秘密中的秘密》,载于《炼金术》,EJ Holmyard 主编(纽约:多佛,1990 年),第 90 页。
Source: Adapted from al-Razi, Secret of Secrets, in Alchemy, ed. E.J. Holmyard (New York: Dover, 1990), 90.
早在穆罕默德时代之前,星辰就已指引商队前行,占星术(由波斯琐罗亚斯德教徒发展而来)对阿拔斯王朝的领导层来说非常重要,确保了占星家在早期伊斯兰统治者的宫廷中享有崇高的地位。除了这些用于观测星辰的用途之外,信徒应朝麦加的克尔白祈祷的禁令还增加了一项特殊要求,即天文学家和地理学家(通常是同一个人,例如托勒密的情况)参与长期而详细的观测计划。伊斯兰天文学对于计时也是必要的,因为《古兰经》规定所有宗教活动都要使用阴历。
The stars had guided trade caravans from before the time of Muhammad, and astrology (developed by the Persian Zoroastrians) was important to Abbasid leadership, ensuring that astrologers had a high status in the courts of the early Islamic rulers. In addition to these uses for stellar observation, the injunction that the faithful should pray toward the Ka’bah in Mecca added a particular requirement that engaged astronomers and geographers (often, as in the case of Ptolemy, the same person) in a long and detailed program of observation. Islamic astronomy was also necessary for timekeeping because the Q’ran mandated the use of the lunar calendar for all religious activities.
最早支持天文学工作的伊斯兰领袖之一是阿拔斯王朝哈里发马蒙(813-33 年在位)。这有助于使天文学享有一定的声望,并一直延续到黄金时代。第一部重要的阿拉伯天文学著作是花剌子米于 830 年撰写的《信德经》。它主要基于托勒密的思想,为后来的天文学家奠定了理论框架,但它也标志着伊斯兰世界独立工作的开始。
One of the first Islamic leaders to support astronomical work was the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun ruling from 813–33. This helped to give astronomy a level of prestige that continued through the Golden Age. The first significant Arabic work on astronomy was Zij al-Sindh by al-Khwarizmi in 830. It was based primarily on Ptolemaic ideas, setting the theoretical framework for later astronomers, but it also marks the beginning of independent work in the Islamic world.
850 年,阿布·伊本·卡西尔·法加尼 (800/805-70) 撰写了《星宿科学概要》,扩展了花剌子米引入的托勒密体系,纠正了部分内容,并包括计算太阳和月亮的进动以及测量地球的周长。
In 850 Abu ibn Kathir al-Farghani (800/805–70) wrote Kitab fi Jawani (A Compendium of the Science of the Stars) that extended the Ptolemaic system introduced by al-Khwarizmi, corrected some of the material, and included calculations for the precession of the Sun and the Moon as well as a measurement of the circumference of the Earth.
人们对天文学的广泛兴趣也促进了天文仪器的发展。尽管希腊天文学家对星盘非常熟悉,但伊斯兰工匠的技术技能却使人们创造出了非常优质的星盘。哲学家兼天文学家穆罕默德·伊本·易卜拉欣·法扎里 (公元 806 年) 被认为是伊斯兰世界第一台星盘的制造者。伊斯兰天文学家利用各种日晷、象限仪和浑天仪编制了大量星表。
The widespread interest in astronomy also led to the development of astronomical instruments. Although the astrolabe was well known to Greek astronomers, the technical skills of Islamic craftsmen led to the creation of very good astrolabes. The philosopher and astronomer Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Fazari (d. c. 806) is credited with building the first astrolabe in the Islamic world. Using a variety of sundials, quadrants, and armillary spheres, Islamic astronomers compiled extensive star catalogs.
虽然伊斯兰世界的许多主要城市都有天文台,但最具影响力的天文台是由旭烈兀汗于 13 世纪在马拉盖城建立的。它的建造由伟大的波斯博学者纳西尔丁·图西 (1201-74) 监督。除了他的许多科学著作外,他还将银河系确定为恒星的集合,这一观察结果直到伽利略的著作才在西方得到证实。图西还因创造所谓的图西对而闻名,它将一个小圆圈放在一个大圆圈内,这样当两个圆圈围绕其共同中心旋转时,小圆圈上的一个点就会以规则的方式振荡。这种数学装置使图西能够从天文计算中消除托勒密尴尬的等距线。
Although there were observatories in many of the major cities in the Islamic world, the most influential was established by Hulagu Khan in the thirteenth century at the city of Maragha. Its construction was overseen by the great Persian polymath Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201–74). In addition to his many scientific works, he identified the Milky Way as a collection of stars, an observation not confirmed in the West until the work of Galileo. Tusi is also famous for creating what is called the Tusi-couple, which places a small circle within a larger one so that a point on the small circle will oscillate in a regular fashion as the two circles rotate around their common center. This mathematical device allowed Tusi to remove Ptolemy’s awkward equant from astronomical calculations.
在十三和十四世纪,追随图西的天文学家能够消除托勒密图式中的大部分额外运动,但本轮除外。图西的学生库特布·阿尔丁·希拉齐(1236-1311)研究了水星运动的问题。后来,在大马士革大清真寺担任宗教计时员的阿拉·阿尔丁·伊本·沙提尔(1304-75)找到了一种表示月球运动的方法。当哥白尼开始他的工作时,他将太阳置于中心,从而改变了天体的模型,他似乎接触到了图西和沙提尔的工作,这表明伊斯兰天文学家对全球天文学的发展起到了多么重要的作用。
During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, astronomers following Tusi’s lead were able to eliminate most of the extra motions associated with Ptolemy’s schema, with the exception of the epicycles. Tusi’s student, Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi (1236–1311), worked on the problem of Mercury’s motion. Later, Ala al-Din ibn al-Shatir (1304–75), who worked as the religious timekeeper at the Great Mosque of Damascus, found a way to represent the motion of the Moon. When Copernicus began his work, which would transform the model of the heavens by placing the Sun at its center, he appears to have had access to both Tusi’s and al-Shatir’s work, showing how instrumental Islamic astronomers were to the development of astronomy worldwide.
通过数学和天文学来理解自然的愿望是人类几乎在每个文明中都存在的一种冲动。我们可以从美洲、澳大利亚和太平洋岛屿的人们留下的天体观测中追溯到这些技能的发展。特别是,我们有来自玛雅人的记录阿兹特克人记录了天体的运动,并发展了创建日历所需的数学。这些观察主要是出于宗教原因,但它们也是种植和收获等活动的实际规划的一部分。
The desire to understand nature through mathematics and astronomy has been a human impulse seen in almost every civilization. We can trace the development of these skills in the celestial observations left by people in the Americas, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. In particular, we have records from the Maya and the Aztec showing that they recorded the motion of the heavens and developed the mathematics needed to create calendars. These observations were primarily done for religious reasons, but they were also part of the practical planning of activities such as planting and harvesting.
玛雅文明遍布尤卡坦半岛,历史悠久,始于公元前8000 年左右,但智力活动最活跃的时期是在公元250 年至公元 950 年的古典时期。玛雅人拥有良好的天文学家和数学家。他们的大部分工作都是出于宗教目的,但他们留下了重要的数学和天文学见解。玛雅人记录了太阳、月亮、水星、金星、火星、木星和许多恒星的运动。他们的系统是地心的,他们的观察使他们能够预测日食并绘制恒星的未来位置,在许多情况下比当时的欧洲天文学家更精确。他们对金星特别感兴趣,非常准确地计算了它的 584 天周期。这可能是因为从占星学上来说金星与战争和变革有关。
The Mayan civilization built across the Yucatán Peninsula was ancient, beginning around 8000 BCE, but the age of greatest intellectual activity was during the Classical period from 250 CE to 950 CE. The Maya had good astronomers and mathematicians. Much of their work was done for religious purposes, but they left a record of significant mathematical and astronomical insight. The Maya recorded the motion of the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and many stars. Their system was geocentric and their observations allowed them to predict eclipses and chart the future position of stars, in many cases with greater precision than European astronomers of the period. They had a special interest in Venus, calculating its 584-day cycle with great accuracy. This may have been because Venus was astrologically associated with war and change.
玛雅人创造了两种历法。第一种是以太阳为单位的 20 天周期计数,称为维纳尔(winal)。一年由 18 个维纳尔加上五天的周期组成,称为瓦耶布(wayeb)。这段时期被认为是危险的,因为自然领域与超自然领域之间的分界线被打开了。玛雅人将他们的历法投射到遥远的未来,计算出 6300 万年的时间跨度,尽管实际上最长的单位是巴克屯(ba'k'tun),它记录了 394 年的时间。第二种历法是佐尔金历,周期为 260 天,用于宗教仪式。佐尔金历为什么有 260 天是一个争论的话题,因为这与任何天文周期都不匹配。它可能是一种数字构造(例如 13 × 20),甚至是人类妊娠期的测量单位。不管原因是什么,这两种历法还是在整个中美洲流传。
The Maya created two calendars. The first was a solar count of 20-day periods known as winal. A year consisted of 18 winal plus a five-day period called the wayeb. This period was considered dangerous, when the division between natural and supernatural realms was opened. The Maya projected their calendar far into the future, calculating a span of 63 million years, although in practical terms the longest unit was the ba’k’tun, which recorded a period of 394 years. The second tzolk’in calendar was a 260-day cycle and was used for religious rituals. It is a subject of much debate about why the tzolk’in had 260 days, since this does not match up with any astronomical period. It may have been a numerological construct (13 × 20 for example) or even a measure of the human gestation period. Whatever the reason, the two calendars nonetheless spread throughout Mesoamerica.
根据玛雅人的ba'k'tun与欧洲公历之间的对应关系,ba'k'tun于 2012 年 12 月 20 日结束。一些人认为这一事件是世界末日的预言,并以此作为好莱坞电影《2012》的剧情元素。许多伪科学纪录片(如《2012 启示录》)将ba'k'tun的终结描述为玛雅人的末日预言。这些节目没有历史或科学依据,是第 13 章讨论的滥用科学问题的一部分。实际上,ba'k'tun的结束只是下一个 ba'k'tun 的开始。
According to one correlation between the Mayan ba’k’tun and the European Gregorian calendar, a ba’k’tun ended on December 20, 2012. This occurrence was taken by some to be a prophecy of apocalypse and was used as a plot element in the Hollywood movie 2012. A number of pseudo-scientific documentaries such as 2012 Apocalypse presented the end of the ba’k’tun as a Mayan prophecy of doom. These shows had no foundation in history or science and are part of the problem with the misuse of science discussed in Chapter 13. In reality, the end of the ba’k’tun was simply followed by the start of the next.
玛雅历法如此精确,部分原因是玛雅文明拥有良好的数学体系。玛雅人使用占位符二十进制系统(基数为 20),并用符号表示零。他们使用一系列点和条来书写数字,使基本计算变得简单。(见图2.12。)在数论方面,玛雅人在许多方面都比欧洲或亚洲人先进。目前尚未发现玛雅人系统地使用几何学。虽然玛雅建筑清楚地表明他们可以创造各种角度,包括一致的 90° 角(可能使用称为quipu 的打结绳索),并且可以将结构与基本方向对齐,但我们没有发现任何迹象表明他们已经发展了几何理论原理。
Mayan calendars were in part so accurate because the Mayan civilization had a good mathematical system. The Maya used a placeholder vigesimal system (base 20) and had a symbol for zero. They used a series of dots and bars to write their numbers, making basic calculations easy. (See figure 2.12.) In many ways, the Maya were more advanced than their European or Asian counterparts when it came to number theory. What has not been discovered is any systematic use of geometry. Although Mayan architecture makes it clear that they could create a variety of angles, including a consistent 90° angle (probably using knotted ropes known as quipu) and could align structures to the cardinal directions, we have not discovered any indication that they had developed theoretical principles of geometry.
2.12玛雅数字
2.12 MAYAN NUMERALS
阿兹特克帝国始于 1426 年左右,以玛雅人控制地区北部的特诺奇蒂特兰城(现墨西哥城)为中心。阿兹特克帝国一直持续到 1520 年西班牙征服。鉴于他们与玛雅世界的距离,阿兹特克人对数学和天文学有着相似的热爱也就不足为奇了。天文学是如此重要,以至于它与写作和神学一起成为 calmecac 学校正规教育的一部分。阿兹特克人追踪恒星和行星的运动,并利用观测结果建造寺庙和建筑物。最著名的例子是 Templo Mayor,其朝向使得在 3 月 21 日春分时,太阳位于 Tlaloc 和 Huitzilopochtli 神殿之间。阿兹特克天文学家兼祭司使用与玛雅人相同的两种日历系统。最重要的阿兹特克文物之一是日历石(或太阳石)。 (见图 2.13。)该碑雕刻于 1479 年左右,上面既有日历,也有大量的宗教符号。
The Aztec Empire began around 1426 and centered on the city of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City), north of the region controlled by the Maya. The Aztec Empire lasted until the Spanish conquest in 1520. Given their proximity to the Mayan world, it is not surprising that the Aztecs had a similar affinity for mathematics and astronomy. Astronomy was so important that it was part of formal education at the calmecac schools, along with writing and theology. The Aztecs tracked the motions of the stars and planets and used the observations in the construction of temples and buildings. The best-known example of this is the Templo Mayor, oriented so that on the March 21 equinox, the Sun was observed between the Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli shrines. The Aztec astronomer-priests used the same two calendar systems as the Maya. One of the most important Aztec artifacts is the Calendar Stone (or Sun Stone). (See figure 2.13.) Carved c. 1479, it shows both calendars and a host of religious symbols.
2.13阿兹特克日历石
2.13 AZTEC CALENDAR STONE
资料来源:维基百科用户 Keepcases。根据 CC-BY-SA 条款授权。
Source: Wikipedia user Keepcases. Licensed under the terms of CC-BY-SA.
阿兹特克数学借鉴了玛雅人和奥尔梅克人的思想。与玛雅人一样,阿兹特克人也使用二十进制系统,并使用点和条来表示数字,并添加其他符号来表示更大的数字。与玛雅人不同,阿兹特克人似乎没有使用零符号,但他们理解这个概念。数学不仅用于日历,还用于根据农场土地面积征税和测量。阿兹特克语言中包含铅垂线和水平仪等工具的词汇。
Aztec mathematics borrowed ideas from the Maya and Olmec people. Like the Maya, the Aztecs had a vigesimal system and used dots and bars to represent numbers, adding other symbols for larger numbers. Unlike the Maya, the Aztecs do not appear to have used a symbol for zero, but understood the concept. Mathematics was used for calendars, but also for taxes based on land area of farms and surveying. The Aztec language includes words for tools such as a plumb line and a level.
直到 15 世纪末欧洲人到来之前,美洲与世界其他地方没有接触。他们的思想似乎没有影响其他文明,但该地区的历史告诉我们人们对数学和天文学有着广泛的兴趣。人们可以接触到数学和天文学的地方他们花了一段时间仰望天空,记录并利用他们的观察结果。
There was no contact between the Americas and the rest of the world until the Europeans arrived in the late fifteenth century. Their ideas do not appear to have influenced other civilizations, but the history of this region tells us about the widespread interest in mathematics and astronomy. Anywhere people could look up at the sky over a period of time, they recorded and exploited their observations.
在欧洲背景下,西方历史学家越来越意识到公元一世纪的国际接触比以前想象的要多。虽然西方与伊斯兰世界有直接的接触,但人们认为,在伊斯兰教传播之前,欧洲和中东与亚洲之间遥远的距离和崎岖的地形阻碍或严重限制了两地之间的接触。现在很清楚,情况并非如此。例如,当亚历山大大帝于公元前326 年率军东进印度时,他已经知道次大陆及其他地方存在着伟大的城市和帝国。这引发了一个关于西方科学起源的复杂问题,因为与欧洲自然哲学相关的思想可能受到世界其他地方思想的影响,进而可能影响了其他文化。我们不能再声称科学的起源是西方的独立产物;相反,它涉及与远离希腊和罗马的世界部分地区复杂而长期的思想和技术贸易。
In the European context, Western historians have become increasingly aware that international contacts in the first centuries CE were greater than previously imagined. While contacts between the West and the Islamic world were direct, the vast distances and often rugged terrain that separated Europe and the Middle East from Asia were thought to have precluded or seriously limited contact between the two regions until the spread of Islam. It is now clear that this was not the case. For example, when Alexander the Great took his army east into India in 326 BCE, he already knew that great cities and empires existed on the subcontinent and beyond. This raises a complex question about the origins of Western science, since the ideas that have been associated with European natural philosophy may have been influenced by ideas from other parts of the world and in turn may have influenced other cultures. We can no longer claim that the origin of science was an independent product of the West; rather, it involved complex and long-standing trade in ideas and technologies with parts of the world far away from Greece and Rome.
我们知道,包括火药、造纸和纺车在内的一系列发明都是从中国传到欧洲的,而印度则传来了印度数字(我们也称之为阿拉伯数字,以纪念它们在穆斯林世界的传播)、占位符数学和乌兹钢(在西方更广为人知的名字是大马士革钢)(同样是因为欧洲人的接触点是伊斯兰世界)。目前尚不清楚的是,特定的解释和发现是否以类似的方式传播,还是它们在各个文化中独立出现。例如,每个记录太阳和月亮运动的社会都独立发现了阳历和阴历,所有对数学感兴趣的社会都发展出了某种版本的毕达哥拉斯定理。
We know that a host of inventions including gunpowder, paper, and the spinning wheel made their way from China to Europe, while from India came Hindu numbers (which we also call Arabic numbers in recognition of their path through the Muslim world), placeholder mathematics, and wootz steel, better known in the West as Damascus steel (again because the contact for Europeans was the Islamic world). What is less clear is whether particular explanations and discoveries were transmitted in a similar way, or whether they were arrived at independently in each culture. For example, every society that recorded the motion of the Sun and Moon independently discovered the solar and lunar calendars, and all societies interested in mathematics developed some version of the Pythagorean theorem.
东方帝国的崛起与地中海盆地的发展相同:农业、职业专业化、官僚主义和城市化。在印度和中国,自然哲学成为这些地区知识遗产的一部分,印度学者将他们对自然的观察与吠陀经文紧密联系起来,吠陀经文是该地区许多人的宗教和社会基础文本,而中国和远东学者则倾向于更加务实,与道教中不那么超自然的思想保持一致。公元前五世纪后,佛教传播开来,亚洲学者也受到了佛教的影响。
The rise of the empires of the East was predicated on the same developments as those of the Mediterranean basin: agriculture, job specialization, bureaucracy, and urbanization. In India and China, natural philosophy became a part of the intellectual heritage of those regions, with Indian scholars more closely linking their observations of nature to the Vedic texts that were the foundational religious and social texts for many of the people of the region, while Chinese and Far Eastern scholars tended to be more pragmatic, in keeping with the less supernatural ideas of Taoism. Asian scholars were also influenced by Buddhism as it spread after the fifth century BCE.
印度的吠陀传统源自一系列写于公元前 1500 年至公元前900 年之间的文本。这些文本虽然主要是宗教文本,但也包括有关数学、几何、生物学和医学的材料。吠陀数学是作为正确执行仪式的方法的一部分而发展起来的,并从公元前六世纪左右开始作为吠陀(吠陀的辅助学科)六门学科的一部分进行研究,尤其是kalpa(仪式)和jyotişa(占星术)。这一时期的咒语也表现出对大数字的兴趣,一些咒语命名的单位高达一万亿。
The Vedic tradition in India came from a series of texts written between about 1500 and 900 BCE. These texts, while primarily religious, also include material about mathematics, geometry, biology, and medicine. Vedic mathematics was developed as part of the methods for correctly performing rituals and was studied as part of the six disciplines of the Vedangās (Ancillaries of the Vedas) starting around the sixth century BCE, especially kalpa (rituals) and jyotişa (astrology). Mantras from this period also showed an interest in large numbers, with some mantras naming units up to a trillion.
Baudhayana(活在公元前八世纪)的《Baudhayana Sulba Sutra》是一本早期的数学文本,它确定了我们所谓的毕达哥拉斯关系,并给出了一些常见的整数三元组(3、4、5 和 7、12、13)。它还给出了 2 的平方根公式,表明当时的数学家明白,直角三角形的边与斜边的关系的最基本解不能用整数来表示。
The Baudhayana Sulba Sutra by Baudhayana (fl. eighth century BCE) was an early mathematical text that identified what we would call the Pythagorean relationship and gave some of the common whole-number triplets (3, 4, 5 and 7, 12, 13). It also gave a formula for the square root of two, indicating that the mathematicians of the time understood that the most basic solution to the relationship of the sides of a right triangle to the hypotenuse could not be expressed as an integer.
印度数学的黄金时代是公元 400 年至 1600 年。在此期间,许多数学家,包括瓦拉哈米希拉(约公元 6 世纪)、婆罗摩笈多(约公元 598 年 - 约公元668 年)和桑嘎玛格拉玛的玛达瓦(约公元 1340 年 - 约公元 1425 年)。他们发现了三角函数正弦、余弦、正切和正割。长期努力寻找数论和几何之间的数学关系导致了平面和立体几何的出现,这为微积分开辟了道路。
The golden age of Indian mathematics ran from 400 to 1600 CE. During this period, a host of mathematicians including Varahamihira (c. sixth century CE), Brahmagupta (c. 598–c. 668 CE) and Madhava of Sangamagrama (c. 1340–c. 1425). Amongst their discoveries were the trigonometric functions sine, cosine, tangent, and secant. A long-term effort to find mathematical relationships between number theory and geometry led to plane and solid geometry and this opened the way to calculus.
吠陀传统中对数学最伟大的贡献之一是发明了使用数字的位置符号。该系统的起源尚不清楚,但到公元499 年,天文学家和数学家 Aryabhata 开始使用占位符,尽管他使用的是字母而不是数字。更接近现代符号的数字在公元 600 年左右开始使用。这种符号系统在公元662 年就已为叙利亚学者所知,后来被 Al-Khwarizmi 等阿拉伯学者采用,变得更加普遍(这就是我们现在称之为阿拉伯数字的原因)。欧洲人第一次提到这种新的数字系统是在第二部《维吉拉努斯抄本》中,这是一部不同著作的汇编,完成于公元 976 年。
One of the greatest gifts to mathematics within the Vedic tradition was the invention of positional notation using numerals. The origin of this system is not clear, but by 499 CE the astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata was using placeholders, although he used letters rather than numerals. Numerals much closer to modern symbols came into use around 600 CE. This system of notation was known to Syrian scholars by 662 CE and was later made much more common when they were adopted by Arabic scholars such as Al-Khwarizmi (which is why we now call them Arabic numerals). The first European mention of the new number system was in the second Codex Vigilanus, a compilation of different writings, completed in 976 CE.
已知最早的印度天文学文献是《吠檀多经》 ,成书于公元前六世纪至四世纪之间。虽然它本质上是宗教性的,部分是为了规范宗教仪式而创作的,但它包含了关于太阳和月亮周期的实用信息、行星列表以及天体观测的指导。阿耶波多认为地球在旋转,但根据地心模型,地球仍位于宇宙的中心。
The earliest known Indian astronomical text was the Vedānga Jyotişa, composed sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE. Although it was religious in nature and created in part to regulate religious observance, it contained practical information on solar and lunar cycles, a list of planets, and guidance for celestial observation. Aryabhata argued that the Earth rotated, while still placing it in the center of the universe in a geocentric model.
最有趣的自然哲学思想之一来自印度学者卡纳达(Kanada,活跃于公元前二世纪,尽管有人提出最早的年代是公元前六世纪)。卡纳达对物质理论感兴趣,研究一种被称为rasavādam的炼金术。在他的部分著作中,他主张原子的存在,并称原子不可分割、不可毁灭且永恒。一些现代学者认为,卡纳达的原子论虽然比德谟克利特的希腊罗马原子论更抽象,但更完整。
One of the most intriguing natural philosophical ideas came from the Hindu scholar Kanada (fl. second century BCE, although dates as early as sixth century BCE have been proposed). Kanada was interested in matter theory, studying a form of alchemy known as rasavādam. In part of his work, he argued for the existence of atoms, which he described as indivisible, indestructible, and eternal. Some modern scholars have suggested that Kanada’s atomism, while more abstract than the Greco-Roman atomism of Democritus, was more complete.
尽管印度自然哲学家进行了广泛的研究并取得了许多显著的见解,但他们并没有像希腊人那样将自然研究与精神研究区分开来。政治、宗教和军事动乱(例如公元712 年左右阿拉伯人征服信德)可能扰乱了印度自然哲学在次大陆的发展。印度成为穆斯林世界的一部分后,伊斯兰自然哲学(从印度人那里借用了有用的概念)得到了统治者的支持。
Although Indian natural philosophers undertook a wide range of investigations and achieved many notable insights, they did not separate natural and spiritual studies of nature, as the Greeks did. Political, religious, and military turmoil such as the Arab conquest of the Sindh c. 712 CE may have disrupted the development of Indian natural philosophy in the sub-continent. Once India was part of the Muslim world, Islamic natural philosophy (borrowing useful concepts from the Indians) was supported by the rulers.
公元前263 年左右,控制着如今印度、阿富汗、巴基斯坦和孟加拉国大部分地区的阿育王(公元前304-232 年)皈依了佛教,中国、印度和地中海世界之间建立了一座重要的桥梁。阿育王派遣使者前往邻近地区,西至亚历山大,东至缅甸。佛教可能在公元70 年左右传入中国,开启了东西方之间更广泛的思想交流。一些现代学者认为,印度数学尤其受到中国的影响,而希腊自然哲学则通过亚历山大大帝建立的希腊-巴克特里亚王国的残余流入印度。
An important bridge between China, India, and the Mediterranean world was created around 263 BCE when Ashoka the Great (304–232 BCE), who controlled most of modern-day India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, converted to Buddhism. Ashoka sent emissaries to neighboring regions as far away as Alexandria in the west and Burma in the east. Buddhism likely reached China around 70 CE and opened a wider exchange of ideas between East and West. Some modern scholars have argued that Indian mathematics in particular was influenced by Chinese work, while Greek natural philosophy flowed into India through the remnants of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom established by Alexander the Great.
中国的自然哲学对现代科学史学家和科学哲学家提出了挑战。学者李约瑟(1900-95)和王凌(1917-94)合著了一部长达 24 卷的中国科学技术史巨著,名为《中国科学技术史(1954-2004)》,因此,中国知识和发明的广度和深度众所周知。在早期历史的大部分时间里,中国是世界上最富有、技术最先进的帝国。与欧洲学者甚至伊斯兰学者相比,中国学者受教育程度高,掌握着大量资源。炼金术和天文学等几个特定的研究领域发展得非常好,但尽管有这些优势,统一的自然哲学体系却没有发展起来。
Natural philosophy in China represents a challenge to modern historians and philosophers of science. A massive 24-volume history of Chinese science and technology entitled Science and Civilization in China (1954–2004) was undertaken by the scholars Joseph Needham (1900–95) and Wang Ling (1917–94), so the vast range and depth of knowledge and invention are well known. China was, for most of its early history, the richest and most technologically advanced empire in the world. Its scholars were highly educated and commanded vast resources compared to European or even Islamic scholars. Several specific areas of research, such as alchemy and astronomy, were extremely well developed, but despite these advantages, a unified natural philosophical system did not develop.
中国的炼金术与道教思想和医学密切相关,炼金术和我们所谓的药理学之间没有明确区分。炼金术研究至少可以追溯到公元前二世纪,因为至少从公元前144 年起人们就开始关注炼金术士,当时皇帝颁布法令,禁止制造“假”黄金,违者处以死刑。尽管人们对炼金术进行了大量的研究,但主要关注点还是在于长生不老。最古老的炼金术文献之一是《赞通记》(作者不详),出现于公元前三世纪或公元前二世纪末。它描述了制作长生不老金丸的方法。著名的道教学者和高级政府官员葛洪(公元283-343 年)写了大量关于炼金术和长生不老的文章。他的一般理论是基于金属的净化和炼金,以此来消除导致衰老的生物学负面影响。与西方炼金术士一样,中国炼金术士也处于困境,他们必须透露足够多的信息来证明自己的技能,同时又需要对其工作的具体细节保密,这既是商业机密,也是为了保护人们免受炼金术带来的(精神和身体)危险。虽然强大的药物学已经发展起来,但炼金术在中国从未成为一门全面的物质研究。
Alchemy in China was closely tied to Taoist ideas and medicine, and there was no clear distinction between alchemical work and what we would call pharmacology. The study of alchemy extends back to at least the second century BCE, since concern about alchemists existed from at least 144 BCE, when the emperor issued an edict outlawing the making of “counterfeit” gold on pain of death. Although there was much work done on transmutation, the primary focus was on immortality. One of the oldest alchemical texts was Tsan-tung-chi (authorship unknown), which appeared around the third or late second century BCE. It described the way to make a golden pill that would make a person immortal. The noted Taoist scholar and high government official Ge Hong (283–343 CE) wrote extensively about alchemy and immortality. His general theory was based on the purification and transmutation of metals as a way to remove those negative aspects of biology that caused aging. Chinese alchemists, like Western alchemists, were in a difficult position, having to reveal enough to establish their skills, while needing to keep specific details of their work secret, both as trade secrets and to protect people from the dangers (spiritual and physical) of alchemy. While a strong materia medica developed, alchemy never became a comprehensive study of matter in China.
中国宇宙学是一门比炼金术更统一的学科,但它也与道教关于存在和宇宙中事物位置的思想密切相关。早期中国天文学家确定了阳历和阴历,并绘制了可见行星的路径。他们是优秀的观察者,注意到彗星的经过以及 1054 年超新星的出现。汉朝(公元25-220 年)出现了天文学工作的激增,然后在唐朝(公元618-907 年)再次出现,当时随着佛教的传播,大量印度天文学家涌入中国。
Chinese cosmology was a more unified study than alchemy, but it was also tied very closely to Taoist ideas about existence and the place of things in the universe. Early Chinese astronomers identified the solar and lunar calendars and plotted the paths of the visible planets. They were good observers and noted the passage of comets as well as the appearance of a supernova in 1054. There was a surge of astronomical work during the Han dynasty (25–220 CE), and then again during the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE) when an influx of Indian astronomers arrived in China with the spread of Buddhism.
中国观测者特别擅长编制星表,张衡(公元78-139 年)列出了 2000 多颗恒星,他还计算了日食和月食。这些星表中的信息还用于制作一些非常详细的浑天仪,天文学家苏颂(公元 1020-1101 年)和他的同事于 1092 年制作了一个巨大的机械钟楼,其中包括一个移动的浑天仪和一个天球仪。(见图2.14。)
Chinese observers were particularly adept at creating star catalogs, and more than 2,000 stars were listed by Zhang Heng (78–139 CE), who also calculated solar and lunar eclipses. The information from these catalogs was also used to create some very detailed armillary spheres, and the astronomer Su Song (1020–1101) and his colleagues created a massive mechanical clock tower in 1092 that included a moving armillary sphere and a celestial globe. (See figure 2.14.)
2.14中国机械钟(约1092年)
2.14 CHINESE MECHANICAL CLOCK (c. 1092)
来源:摘自《新义项法要》(约 1050 年),第 3 章。
Source: From Hsin I Hsiang Fa Yao (c. 1050), ch. 3.
蒙古帝国建立后,中国天文学家与伊斯兰学者的合作更加密切。忽必烈汗(1215-94 年)将波斯天文学家带到北京建造天文台,并在 1250 年左右开办了一所天文学学校。北京建造了一系列天文台,其中1442 年建成的天文台至今仍保存完好,是现存最古老的望远镜出现之前的天文台之一。通过与伊斯兰天文学家的接触,中国人了解了托勒密体系。
After the establishment of the Mongol Empire, Chinese astronomers worked more closely with Islamic scholars. Kublai Khan (1215–94) brought Persian astronomers to Beijing to build an observatory and started a school of astronomy around 1250. A series of observatories were built in Beijing, and the one completed in 1442 has been preserved and is one of the oldest pre-telescopic observatories still in existence. Through these contacts with Islamic astronomers, the Chinese learned about the Ptolemaic system.
到了十六世纪,中国人邀请了许多欧洲人,尤其是耶稣会士,向他们传授欧洲自然哲学和托勒密天文学。尽管中国天文学家对托勒密模型存在争议,但大多数人都拒绝了它,因为它需要一种物质来占据空间,而他们最普遍持有的观点是天体存在于无限的虚空中。与印度科学一样,中国科学在某些学科上很强大,但从未发展出一种非宗教性质的总体解释模型或方法。
By the sixteenth century, the Chinese invited a number of Europeans, particularly Jesuits, to teach them European natural philosophy and Ptolemaic astronomy. Although there was debate among Chinese astronomers about the Ptolemaic model, most of them rejected it because it required a material substance to occupy space, while their most widely held view was of celestial objects in an infinite void. As was the case with Indian science, Chinese science was powerful in particular subjects but never developed an overarching explanatory model or method that was not religious in nature.
伊斯兰文艺复兴最后一位伟大的思想家是阿布·瓦利德·穆罕默德·伊本·鲁世德(1126-98 年),他在阿拉伯和拉丁世界都被称为“大注释家”或简称为“注释家”。鲁世德受过哲学教育,并接受过医生培训,但他主要从事法官和法学专家的工作,一生大部分时间生活在西班牙的科尔多瓦。鲁世德在许多方面代表了伊斯兰自然哲学的权力和权力的衰落。他对亚里士多德的评论不是基于原始资料,而是基于阿拉伯语翻译,因此他并没有试图回到原始材料。他写了三套评论:《雅米》(Jami),这是一份简化的概述;《塔尔希斯》(Talkhis),这是一份包含更多批判性材料的中级评论;《塔夫西尔》(Tafsir),代表了在穆斯林背景下对亚里士多德思想的高级研究。这些评论被设计为教育步骤,以便学生学习。初学者可以从入门到精通亚里士多德,从而真正地创造了一个伊斯兰亚里士多德。
One of the last great thinkers of the Islamic Renaissance was Abul-Waleed Muhammad ibn Rushd (1126–98), who was known in both the Arabic and the Latin worlds as the Great Commentator or simply the Commentator. Rushd was educated in philosophy and trained as a physician, but he worked primarily as a judge and expert in jurisprudence and lived most of his life in Spain at Córdoba. In many ways Rushd represents both the power and the waning of power in Islamic natural philosophy. His commentaries on Aristotle were not based on primary sources but rather on Arabic translations, so he was not attempting to return to the original material. He wrote three sets of commentaries: the Jami, a simplified overview; the Talkhis, an intermediate commentary with more critical material; and the Tafsir, which represented an advanced study of Aristotelian thought in a Muslim context. These were fashioned as educational steps to take the novice from an introduction to an advanced understanding of Aristotle and, in effect, created an Islamic Aristotle.
拉什德对自然哲学的贡献并非关于自然的原创著作,而是一种代表了根深蒂固的思想遗产的强大综合体。他提出了亚里士多德主义最忠实的版本,本质上是在为亚里士多德的逻辑和哲学体系的完美性辩护。从这个立场出发,拉什德认为有两种真理知识。来自宗教的真理知识基于信仰,因此无法检验。它是大众通往真理的道路,因为它通过符号和象征来传授,不需要训练就能理解。另一方面,哲学将真理直接呈现给心灵,只留给少数有智力进行研究的精英。这并不意味着宗教和哲学相互冲突,而是它们不能相互冲突。哲学可能是一种理解真理的智力上更优越的方式,但它并不能创造真理。因此,宗教揭示的任何真理都与哲学得出的真理相同。
What Rushd added to natural philosophy was not original work on nature, but a powerful synthesis that represented a well-established intellectual heritage. He presented the most dedicated version of Aristotelianism, essentially arguing for the perfection of Aristotle’s system of logic and philosophy. From this position, Rushd argued that there were two kinds of knowledge of truth. The knowledge of the truth that came from religion was based on faith and thus could not be tested. It was the path to truth for the masses, since it did not require training to understand because it taught by signs and symbols. Philosophy, on the other hand, presented the truth directly to the mind and was reserved for an elite few who had the intellectual capacity to undertake its study. This did not mean that religion and philosophy conflicted but that they could not conflict. Philosophy might be an intellectually superior way of understanding truth, but it did not make truth. It followed that any truth revealed by religion would be the same as the truth arrived at by philosophy.
这种对哲学的支持以及对哲学与宗教关系的宣言对中世纪欧洲学者产生了深远的影响,尤其是托马斯·阿奎那 (1225-74)。拉什德被拉丁人称为阿威罗伊,他的作品成为他们研究亚里士多德的大部分作品的关键组成部分,尤其是对一个被称为经院哲学家的群体来说。拉什德既是中世纪亚里士多德主义的来源(通过评论)(特别是在亚里士多德的作品本身广泛传播之前),也是哲学的支柱。他对哲学的智力优越性的支持也使他的作品成为批评的目标,支持者被指控为异端邪说甚至是无神论者。拉什德所主张的立场在当今科学与宗教关系的考虑中得到了呼应。对于许多自然哲学家和科学家来说,研究自然(哲学)可以揭示上帝创造的真相的想法不仅是理性与信仰调和的正当理由,而且是继续研究自然的呼吁。
This support for philosophy and the declaration of the relation of philosophy and religion had a profound influence on medieval European scholars, particularly Thomas Aquinas (1225–74). Known as Averroes to the Latins, Rushd’s work became a key component for much of their work on Aristotle, especially for a group called the scholastics. Rushd was both a source for medieval Aristotelianism through the commentaries (especially before Aristotle’s work itself was widely available) and a philosophical anchor. His support for the intellectual superiority of philosophy also made his work the target of criticism, and supporters were accused of heresy or even atheism. The position Rushd argued has been echoed in considerations of the relationship between science and religion down to the modern day. For many natural philosophers and scientists the idea that the study of nature (philosophy) could reveal the truth of God’s creation was not merely a justification for the reconciliation of reason and faith but a call to pursue the study of nature.
伊斯兰文艺复兴时期人们对自然哲学的兴趣随着伊斯兰世界的分裂和保守而逐渐消退。哈基姆往往是才华横溢的思想家,但大多数情况下,他们未能达到使自然哲学研究成为可取商品的临界规模。自然哲学家们也是他们自身成功的受害者,因为他们创造了理想的阿拉伯自然哲学模型(特别是在医学和天文学等领域),学校逐渐从积极研究转向延续既定的工作。未能建立持久的研究伦理是一系列因素造成的,例如扰乱社会各个方面的政治动荡,以及由于领导层易手,宗教从高度宽容转变为严格的原教旨主义,这种转变几乎在一夜之间发生,这使得从事突然被视为不可接受的工作具有潜在危险。这也可能反映了人们对伟大思想家作品的尊重程度,随着旧作品越来越被视为正统,新作品更难传播。
The interest in natural philosophy that grew during the Islamic Renaissance faded as the Islamic world became fractured and in general more conservative. The hakim were often brilliant individual thinkers, but for the most part they failed to reach a kind of critical mass that would make research in natural philosophy a desirable commodity. The natural philosophers were also victims of their own success, for, having created a model of ideal Arabic natural philosophy (particularly in areas such as medicine and astronomy), the schools slowly shifted from active research to perpetuation of established work. The failure to create an enduring research ethic was the result of a number of factors such as the political turmoil that disrupted all aspects of society and the swings from a high level of religious tolerance to strict fundamentalism that occurred almost overnight when leadership changed hands, making it potentially dangerous to engage in work that suddenly might be deemed unacceptable. It may also have reflected the level of respect accorded to the work of the great thinkers, which made new work more difficult to disseminate as the old work increasingly came to be seen as orthodoxy.
文化和宗教的变化也影响了自然哲学的地位。一方面是神秘主义,另一方面是教条主义的伊斯兰教,它们在十三和十四世纪崛起,成为占主导地位的宗教力量。伊斯兰帝国在军事上受到的威胁越来越大,蒙古人在东部入侵,西班牙在西部重新征服,帝国内部的王国之间也发生了内斗。伊斯兰教法越来越多地定义了人类创造力的适当范围;这不包括怀疑论,也不包括任何个人观点或世俗企业身份的真正空间。在穆斯林世界的部分地区,人物或自然的画像被禁止,因为人们认为它们是偶像崇拜。这对某些类型的研究(如植物学)施加了相当严格的限制,并阻碍了通过文本交流观察结果。宗教国家的统治者也担心任何类型的哲学都会与神学相冲突,因此他们不太愿意支持对这些主题感兴趣的学者的工作。也可能存在一种心理优越感,这种优越感来自最富有的伊斯兰国家的权力和荣耀。在伊斯兰教早期,希腊知识和罗马权力仍是常识的一部分,但在罗马沦陷和拜占庭帝国灭亡 500 年后,旧世界显然已被新世界所超越。那么为什么要浪费时间和精力去研究一个失败(和异教)社会的残余呢?
Cultural and religious changes also affected the place of natural philosophy. Mysticism on the one hand and more doctrinaire Islam on the other rose as the dominant religious forces in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The Islamic Empire was increasingly under threat militarily, with incursions by the Mongols in the east, the reconquest of Spain in the west, and infighting among the kingdoms within the empire itself. Islamic law increasingly defined the proper sphere for human creativity; this did not include skepticism or any real place for personal opinion or secular corporate identity. In parts of the Muslim world pictures of people or nature were banned because it was thought they were idolatrous. This placed rather severe limits on certain kinds of investigations such as botany and hampered the communication of observations through texts. The rulers of religious states were also concerned that philosophy of any kind would conflict with theology, and so they were less willing to support work by scholars interested in those topics. There may also have been an element of psychological superiority that came from the power and glory of the richest Islamic states. In the early days of Islam, Greek knowledge and Roman power were still part of common knowledge, but 500 years after the fall of Rome and the end of the Byzantine Empire, the old world had clearly been surpassed by the new. Why then waste time and effort studying the remnants of a failed (and pagan) society?
即使是野蛮且缺乏教育的西欧骑士的出现,似乎也对伊斯兰世界的力量构成了很小的威胁。
Even the appearance of the barbarous and ill-educated knights of Western Europe seemed of little threat to the power of the Islamic world.
罗马帝国灭亡后,一波又一波的入侵扰乱了欧洲人生活的方方面面。战争的物质破坏和经济崩溃摧毁了许多文献集,教育机构沦为废墟,社会从追求知识和帝国转向基本的生存。尽管情况十分恶劣,但并非所有古代知识都已失传。希腊著作在拜占庭帝国幸存下来,某些文献在西方仍为人所知,包括柏拉图的《蒂迈欧篇》的大部分内容、盖伦的部分医学论文、托勒密天文学的一些内容、波爱修斯的一些数学和天文学研究以及亚里士多德的逻辑。这些资源很有价值,但却是零散的。教会聚集了最优秀、最聪明的人才,并将他们的思想转向神学问题。由于基督教神学的某些方面必须处理物质世界的问题,因此人们仍然需要有关物质领域的信息,无论是天文学,以便日历记录节日和纪念日,还是医学,以便履行教会照顾病人的职责。在教会早期,那些倾向于智力活动的人和那些更倾向于神秘方法的人之间存在着斗争。从长远来看,知识分子的管理技能更强,主导了教会的管理,自然研究被纳入西方的知识实践中。
Successive waves of invasions following the fall of Rome disrupted all aspects of life in Europe. The physical destruction of war and economic collapse destroyed many collections of texts, educational institutions fell into ruins, and society turned from the pursuit of knowledge and empire to basic survival. Despite the dire conditions, not all ancient knowledge was lost. Greek works survived in the Byzantine Empire, and certain texts remained known in the West, including most of Plato’s Timaeus, parts of Galen’s medical treatises, elements of Ptolemy’s astronomy, and some of Boethius’s studies in mathematics and astronomy, as well as Aristotle’s logic. These resources were valuable but scattered and fragmentary. The best and brightest minds were gathered by the Church and turned their thoughts to questions of theology. Since certain aspects of Christian theology had to deal with issues of the physical world, there continued to be a need for information about the material realm, whether it was astronomy for calendars to keep track of feast days and observances or medicine to meet the Church’s duty to care for the ill. In the early days of the Church, there was a struggle between those inclined to intellectual activities and those who favored a more mystical approach. In the long run, the greater managerial skills of the intellectual wing came to dominate the administration of the Church, and the study of nature was included in Western intellectual practice.
在中世纪的拉丁西方,基督教会成功地确立了自己在知识和精神事务上的权威地位。因此,就像在伊斯兰国家的情况一样,超自然和精神问题与自然哲学问题交织在一起。因此,尽管希腊自然哲学在中世纪西方具有影响力,但自然研究再次成为争夺自然或超自然解释首要地位的战场。问题的关键在于谁控制知识,谁对真理主张拥有最终权威。答案是重新发明和重新安排知识世界,将精神和自然(或神秘和理性)分开,这与希腊人的做法不同,但同样有力。只要这种分离由天主教会控制,就会产生一系列井然有序、经过精心调节的关于自然和人类在其中的地位的争论。当教会在 16 世纪开始失去权威时,这种分离本身就爆发出多种声音的嘈杂声。
In the Latin West during the course of the Middle Ages the Christian Church succeeded in establishing itself as the authority over intellectual as well as spiritual concerns. Therefore, just as had been the case in Islamic countries, supernatural and spiritual issues became intertwined with natural philosophical ones. Thus, despite the influence of Greek natural philosophy in the medieval West, the study of nature became a battleground for the primacy of natural or supernatural explanations once again. At stake were the questions of who controlled knowledge and who had the ultimate authority over truth claims. The answer was a reinventing and reordering of the intellectual universe, with a separation made between the spiritual and natural (or mystical and rational), which was different than that of the Greeks but similarly powerful. As long as that separation was controlled by the Catholic Church, the result was a well-ordered, carefully moderated series of disputations about nature and humanity’s place within it. When the Church began to lose its authority in the sixteenth century, that very separation exploded into a cacophony of multiple voices.
大学成为创造这些严谨的知识规则和后来的紧张关系的主导和必要空间。这些大学成立于十二世纪及以后,提供了教会认可的空间,但并不完全受教会控制,因为学者们不仅学习了流行的经院哲学体系,该体系侧重于通过严格的三段论逻辑理解基督教的启示真理,而且还要质疑希腊哲学思想和提问方法,同时将它们纳入强大的经院哲学体系。竞争是这个体系的一部分;具有讽刺意味的是,这些为确定和维护正统而创建的地方,在后来的几个世纪里,却成为了替代自然哲学的场所。
The universities became the dominant and necessary space in the creation of both these careful rules of knowledge and the later tensions. The universities, founded in the twelfth century and beyond, provided space sanctioned by the Church and yet were not completely under the Church’s control, since scholars were taught not only the prevailing system of scholasticism, which was focused on understanding the revealed truths of Christianity through rigorous syllogistic logic, but also to contest Greek philosophical ideas and methods of questioning while incorporating them into the powerful system of scholasticism. Competition was built into the system; ironically, those very places created to determine and preserve orthodoxy became the site for alternative natural philosophies in later centuries.
中世纪研究自然的人既关心获取知识的方法,也关心知识的应用,因此,他们就实用性和实用性展开了复杂的对话。与首先对医学和天文学等应用科学感兴趣的穆斯林学者不同,拉丁学者首先关心的是利用自然知识作为救赎之路。虽然他们中的一些人明确地对自然进行了实验,并寻求在军事、炼金术和制图方面的应用,但其他人则担心这种行为的影响。因此,自然知识的实用性对伊斯兰学者来说相对不成问题,但对欧洲人来说却是一个难以解决的问题。
Those who studied nature in the medieval period were as concerned with the method of acquiring knowledge as with its application, and so there developed a complex dialogue concerning utility and practicality. Unlike Muslim scholars, who were interested first in applicable sciences such as medicine and astronomy, Latin scholars were first concerned with the use of natural knowledge as a path to salvation. While some of them explicitly experimented with nature and looked for applications in military, alchemical, and cartographic contexts, others were concerned about the implications of such action. Thus, the utility of natural knowledge, relatively unproblematic for Islamic scholars, was a hard-fought question for Europeans.
在公元六世纪和七世纪,欧洲人对希腊、罗马和伊斯兰自然哲学的了解十分有限。到了九世纪,西欧(尤其是法国部分地区和富裕的意大利城邦)的知识活动日益活跃,开始支持新的研究。随着欧洲人接触到伊斯兰世界的物质和文化财富,这种兴趣得到了进一步激发。伊斯兰学者保存、评论的材料,并不断扩展,特别是在逻辑和数学、医学、炼金术、天文学和光学领域,日益引起拉丁学者的关注。那些将旧约作为基础宗教文献的人“书民”受到伊斯兰统治者的正式容忍,因此,基督教、犹太教和穆斯林学者经常能够访问和使用伊斯兰领土上的资源。犹太学者与欧洲和中东都有联系,而且往往精通多种语言,他们充当了文化之间的桥梁。摩尔人统治时期的西班牙的图书馆,尤其是科尔多瓦的图书馆,藏书超过 40 万册,成为教育和恢复拉丁西方丢失的希腊文本的中心。
During the sixth and seventh centuries Europeans had only limited access to Greek, Roman, and Islamic natural philosophy. By the ninth century growing intellectual activity in Western Europe, particularly in parts of France and the rich Italian city-states, began to support new inquiries. This interest was further spurred as Europeans came into contact with the material and cultural wealth of the Islamic world. Material that Islamic scholars had preserved, commented on, and expanded, especially in the areas of logic and mathematics, medicine, alchemy, astronomy, and optics, increasingly came to the attention of Latin scholars. The “People of the Book,” those who shared the Old Testament as a foundational religious document, were officially tolerated by Islamic rulers, and, as a result, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim scholars were often able to visit and use the resources held in Islamic territory. Jewish scholars, who had ties with both Europe and the Middle East and were often multilingual, acted as a bridge between cultures. The libraries in Moorish Spain, particularly the one in Córdoba which contained over 400,000 volumes, became centers of education and recovery of the Greek texts that had been lost to the Latin West.
在短暂的加洛林帝国时期,即查理曼大帝 (742-814) 统治期间,加洛林帝国仅从 768 年持续到 814 年,人们对知识活动的兴趣重新燃起,一个能够与古罗马的成就相媲美的帝国的概念也重新出现。查理曼大帝自封为神圣罗马帝国皇帝,从而建立了一个新的罗马时代,即使不是一个新的罗马帝国。他建立欧洲帝国的动力不仅产生了政治影响,还塑造了人们对未来的态度。中世纪早期带有某种悲观主义和某种对社会的回顾。这部分源于许多人认为世界正在进入《圣经》中所描述的末日。整个欧洲都有具体的例子表明过去比现在更好,罗马权力的遗迹遍布大地。渡槽、道路和竞技场的废墟不断提醒人们失去的权力和失去的知识。查理曼大帝的成功让人们开始思考重拾罗马辉煌的可能性,以及可能比现在更好的未来。要达到罗马的奇迹,就需要了解罗马人取得的成就,因此人们的注意力转向了希腊罗马遗产。
During the short-lived Carolingian Empire, which lasted only from 768 to 814 during the reign of Charlemagne (742–814), there was both a renewed interest in intellectual activity and the rebirth of the concept of an empire capable of matching the achievements of ancient Rome. Charlemagne claimed the title of Holy Roman emperor and thereby established a new Roman era, if not exactly a new Roman Empire. His drive to create a European empire had more than a political effect, because it also shaped people’s attitude toward the future. The early Middle Ages were tinged with a certain pessimism and a somewhat backward-looking view of society. This came in part from the belief held by many that the world was entering the end days as described in the Bible. Throughout Europe there were, literally, concrete examples that the past was better than the present, as the remains of the power of Rome dotted the landscape. Ruins of aqueducts, roads, and coliseums were a continual reminder of lost power and lost knowledge. Charlemagne’s success started people thinking about the possibility of reclaiming the glory of Rome and about a future that might be better than the present. Matching the wonders of Rome required knowing what the Romans had achieved, and so attention turned to the Greco-Roman heritage.
查理曼大帝是一位出色的将军,但他更是一位精明的政治家,他认识到赢得一个帝国并不等同于维持一个帝国。必须说服公民相信他们在帝国中的生活比独自生活更好,因此查理曼大帝努力建立统一的法律体系,组织军队,改善教堂,并创建公共工程。他将教育置于改革的核心,吸引欧洲最杰出的学者到他在亚琛(Aix-la-Chapelle)的宫廷管理帝国并帮助创造这种新文化。这些学者中,最杰出的是阿尔昆 (735–804),他曾在爱尔兰接受教育,是约克大教堂学校的校长。那里的僧侣们制定了一套以古典训练和基督教神学相结合为基础的课程。
Charlemagne was a superb general, but even more he was an astute politician who recognized that winning an empire was not the same as holding it together. Citizens must be persuaded to believe that they were better off in the empire than on their own, so Charlemagne worked to establish a uniform system of law, organized the military, improved the churches, and created public works. He placed education at the heart of his reforms, attracting Europe’s foremost scholars to his court at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) to manage the empire and help create this new culture. The most prominent of these scholars was Alcuin (735–804), who had been educated in Ireland and was head of the cathedral school of York. There the monks had developed a curriculum based on a combination of classical training and Christian theology.
781 年,阿尔昆会见了查理曼大帝,查理曼大帝邀请他加入宫廷并担任教育大臣。阿尔昆接受了邀请,除了建立学校体系外,他还为皇室提供教育,并担任皇帝的私人教师。
In 781 Alcuin met Charlemagne, who asked him to join his court and be his minister of education. Alcuin accepted and, in addition to developing a school system, educated the royal family and acted as a private tutor to the emperor.
阿尔昆通过皇帝的诏书帮助查理曼大帝建立了大教堂和修道院学校,而这些学校培养的神职人员的识字和学识水平也不断提高。牧师必须识字,查理曼大帝责成主教们确保识字和进行适当的宗教仪式,特别是诵读礼拜仪式。在为查理曼大帝服务期间,阿尔昆还帮助收集手稿并建立抄写室以复制和传播文本。
Alcuin helped Charlemagne establish cathedral and monastery schools by imperial edict, and in turn these schools produced clerics with increasing levels of literacy and scholarship. Priests were to be literate, and Charlemagne charged the bishops with the responsibility of ensuring literacy and the delivery of proper religious observance, particularly the reading of the liturgy. While in Charlemagne’s service, Alcuin was also instrumental in collecting manuscripts and establishing scriptoria for the copying and dissemination of the texts.
阿尔昆的课程为欧洲 1000 多年的教育奠定了基础。他的体系以七门文科为基础,分为文科分为三门学科和四门学科。文科源于拉丁语liber,意为自由,其目的是教育自由人成为好公民,与非自由艺术(为经济利益而学习)相反。
Alcuin’s curriculum provided the foundation for education in Europe for over 1,000 years. His system was based on the study of the seven liberal arts, divided into two sections called the trivium and the quadrivium. From the Latin liber meaning free, the liberal arts served the purpose of educating the free man to be a good citizen, in contrast with the artes illiberales, which were studied for economic gain.
三艺的意思是三条道路的交汇处,但它也暗指公共空间。三艺的三个科目是逻辑、语法和修辞,掌握这些是教育必不可少的第一步。通过清晰的思维、清晰的写作和用拉丁语(欧洲学者的通用语言或通用语言)正确讲话,一个人就可以参与文明。四艺(或四条道路)包括几何、算术、天文学和音乐。音乐是数学的一个分支,研究比例和和谐,可能包括学习唱歌或演奏乐器,但真正关心的是底层的数学理论。文科课程的两半代表了理解世界的两种方式,首先是通过语言,一旦掌握了语言,就通过只有通过数学才能辨别的世界模式。
Trivium means place where three roads meet, but it also implies a public space. The three subjects of the trivium were logic, grammar, and rhetoric, and mastering these was the essential first step of education. Through clear thinking, clear writing, and correct speech in Latin (the lingua franca or universal language of European scholars), a person was prepared to participate in civilization. The quadrivium (or four roads) consisted of geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music. Music was the branch of mathematics that investigated proportions and harmony, which might include studying singing or playing instruments but was really concerned with the underlying mathematical theory. The two halves of the liberal arts curriculum represented the two ways of understanding the world, first through language and, once that was mastered, through the patterns of the world discernible only through mathematics.
改革派学校培养出的最有天赋的学生之一是格伯特(约 945-1003 年)。他曾在法国和西班牙学习,后来成为兰斯大教堂学校的校长。后来他成为兰斯大主教,然后是意大利拉文纳大主教。在萨克森奥托三世的赞助下,他于 999 年当选为教皇西尔维斯特二世。格伯特对逻辑和数学有着浓厚的兴趣,并致力于寻找、翻译成拉丁文以及抄写希腊文和阿拉伯文的自然哲学文本。当他成为教皇时,他为整个教会定下了基调,提高了自然哲学的地位,并加强了神学的知识性。
One of the most gifted students to come out of the reformed schools was Gerbert (c. 945–1003). He studied in France and Spain before becoming headmaster of the cathedral school at Reims. He later became the archbishop of Reims, then of Ravenna in Italy. With the patronage of Otto III of Saxony, he was elected Pope Sylvester II in 999. Gerbert was deeply interested in logic and mathematics and was involved in efforts to find, translate into Latin, and copy Greek and Arabic texts on natural philosophy. When he became pope, he set the tone for the whole Church, raising the profile of natural philosophy and reinforcing the intellectual side of theology.
尽管阿尔昆和格伯特在教会中建立了一种思想传统,并开始为希腊和伊斯兰学术研究培养听众,但他们代表了对仍然神秘的哲学研究感兴趣的一小群人。这一时期的教会人士对自然哲学有着复杂的反应。奥古斯丁是最具影响力的基督教思想家之一,他认为自然哲学可以有助于神学,但如果存在任何明显的冲突,启示知识总是优于发现的知识。许多神学家认为,对自然世界的研究充其量是无关紧要的,最坏的情况是阻碍了人们获得救赎的希望。要将希腊自然哲学置于欧洲学术的核心,需要的不仅仅是慢慢地掌握古代著作及其阿拉伯语评论和补充。促使欧洲人采取最大行动的是军事斗争,首先是反对伊斯兰扩张,然后是争夺耶路撒冷和圣地的控制权。这既改变了欧洲的文化,也大大增加了人们对希腊罗马世界的兴趣。
Although Alcuin and Gerbert established an intellectual tradition in the Church and began to prepare an audience for Greek and Islamic scholarship, they represented a tiny group interested in the still arcane study of philosophy. Churchmen of this period had a complex reaction to natural philosophy. Augustine, one of the most influential Christian thinkers, felt that natural philosophy could be an aid to theology, but revealed knowledge was always superior to discovered knowledge if there was any apparent conflict. Many theologians argued that the study of the natural world at best was irrelevant and at worst impeded one’s hope of salvation. To place Greek natural philosophy at the heart of European scholarship required more than a slow acquisition of the ancient works and their Arabic commentaries and additions. What spurred the Europeans to the greatest action was the military struggle first against Islamic expansion and then for control of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. This both changed the culture of Europe and dramatically increased interest in the Greco-Roman world.
地中海几乎完全被伊斯兰军队控制,他们控制了西班牙、北非、中东和小亚细亚。公元734 年,查理·马特在普瓦捷击败伊斯兰军队,结束了伊斯兰军队对比利牛斯山以外法兰克土地的进一步挑战,他们向欧洲西部的推进也停止了。最终,基督教军队将摩尔人赶出了西班牙,首先是国王阿方索六世于 1085 年攻占托莱多,尽管那里最后一块伊斯兰领土直到 15 世纪末才被占领。
The Mediterranean Sea was almost completely under the control of Islamic forces who held Spain, North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia Minor. In 734 CE their western push into Europe stopped when Charles Martel defeated an Islamic army at Poitiers, ending further challenges to Frankish lands beyond the Pyrenees. Eventually Christian forces pushed the Moors out of Spain, starting with the capture of Toledo in 1085 by King Alfonso VI, although the last of the Islamic territory there was not captured until the late fifteenth century.
伊斯兰教在东方的扩张遭到拜占庭帝国的抵抗,但在苏莱曼开始的伊斯兰势力的不断冲击下,东欧地区逐渐被征服。最终在 1453 年,穆罕默德的军队击败了君士坦丁堡的最后堡垒,结束了拜占庭帝国。君士坦丁堡的陷落将手稿和希腊知识带到了西欧,引发了人们对古代哲学的第二波兴趣。君士坦丁堡被侵略者改名为伊斯坦布尔,从博斯普鲁斯海峡西岸的这个基地开始,伊斯兰入侵西方直到 1683 年奥斯曼帝国军队在维也纳城下第二次失败才结束。巴尔干半岛的许多现代问题源于长期战争给该地区带来的人口和宗教的历史变迁和混合。
The expansion of Islam in the east was resisted by the Byzantine Empire, but under successive waves of Islamic forces starting with Suleman, the eastern European region was slowly conquered. Finally in 1453 Mehmut’s army defeated the last holdouts in Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire. Refugees from the fall of Constantinople brought manuscripts and a knowledge of Greek to Western Europe, adding a second wave of interest in ancient philosophy. Constantinople was renamed Istanbul by the invaders, and from this base on the western side of the Bosphorus Islamic incursions into the west did not end until the second defeat of Ottoman Empire forces at the gates of Vienna in 1683. Many of the modern problems of the Balkans stem from the historical flux and mix of people and religions that long years of warfare brought to the region.
这些对拉丁基督教世界的外部威胁以及国内状况促使教皇乌尔班二世于 1095 年召集基督徒参加第一次十字军东征。欧洲进入了一段稳定时期,许多贵族除了内斗外无事可做。欧洲的骑士更像斯巴达人而非雅典人,他们大多目不识丁,从小就接受训练,以抵御严酷的战斗,除此之外别无他法。由于新土地很少,统治阶级面临着为次子及以后的儿子提供土地的压力,因为在长子继承制将家族土地全部交给长子之后,通常只剩下很少的遗产。当拜占庭皇帝阿莱克修斯一世·科穆宁向塞尔柱土耳其人求助时,十字军东征似乎是同时解决许多问题的好办法。阿方索在西班牙取得的成功鼓舞了乌尔班,他相信拉丁西部可以协助希腊东部对抗令人畏惧的敌人,同时大部分闲散的骑士也可以远离家乡从事他们的职业。对于贵族来说,这里有虔诚的战争、冒险,以及获得土地和财富的潜力;而对于教会来说,这里有控制圣地、皈依基督教和打击竞争信仰的可能性。而对于那些为十字军提供补给的人来说,这里有可观的利润。
These external threats to Latin Christendom as well as domestic conditions led Pope Urban II to call Christians together for the First Crusade in 1095. Europe had entered a period of stability that left many of the nobility with little to do but fight among themselves. The knights of Europe were more Spartan than Athenian, mostly illiterate and trained from an early age to withstand the rigors of combat and not much else. With little in the way of new land available, the ruling class was under pressure to provide for second and later sons, since frequently little inheritance was left after the rules of primogenitor placed all the family lands in the hands of the eldest son. When Alexius I Comnenus, the Byzantine emperor, called for help against the Seljuk Turks, a crusade seemed a good way of dealing with many issues at once. Emboldened by the success of Alfonso in Spain, Urban believed that the Latin West could come to the aid of the Greek East against a much-feared enemy, while at the same time the largely idle knights could practice their profession far from home. For the nobility there was pious warfare, adventure, and the potential for land and wealth, while for the Church there was the possibility of controlling the Holy Land, conversions, and striking a blow against a competing faith. And for those supplying the Crusaders, there were significant profits.
从十字军的角度来看,前三次十字军东征(1096-1099 年、1147-1149 年和 1189-1192 年)取得了一些成功,耶路撒冷于 1099 年落入基督教军队之手。虽然占领耶路撒冷具有象征意义,但领土扩张从未很大,欧洲对圣地的控制也只是短暂的。欧洲人真正获得的是与更广阔的世界重新建立联系。从某种意义上说,自然哲学回归了拉丁西方,因为那里的人民发现了对香料、丝绸、精美瓷器、象牙、香水和一系列异国奢侈品的渴望,其中许多来自丝绸之路沿线的亚洲和中东。他们还用这些商品交换思想。虽然东西方贸易从未完全切断,但奢侈品贸易的扩张使威尼斯和佛罗伦萨等城市变得极其富裕。这些财富反过来又资助了文艺复兴时期的知识和艺术繁荣,同时也增加了阿拉伯世界控制着亚洲、非洲和欧洲之间的贸易。欧洲人,特别是那些无法参与地中海贸易的人,希望避开中间人,直接与东方进行贸易,这也是后来全球探险的推动力。
The first three crusades – 1096–9, 1147–9, and 1189–92 – had some success from the Crusaders’ point of view, with Jerusalem falling to Christian forces in 1099. Although the capture of Jerusalem was symbolic, the territorial gains were never great, and the European hold on the Holy Land was short-lived. What the Europeans really gained was renewed contact with a wider world. In a sense, natural philosophy returned to the Latin West because its people discovered a craving for spices, silk, fine china, ivory, perfume, and a host of exotic luxury items, many of which came from Asia along the Silk Road and through the Middle East. With these goods they also traded ideas. Although east-west trade had never completely been cut off, the expansion of the trade in luxury items made cities such as Venice and Florence extremely wealthy. That wealth in turn financed the intellectual and artistic boom of the Renaissance, while adding to the wealth of the Arabic world that controlled the trade between Asia, Africa, and Europe. The desire of Europeans, especially those unable to participate in the Mediterranean trade, to avoid the middlemen and trade directly with the East was also the spur to global explorations in later years.
3.1前两次十字军东征
3.1 THE FIRST TWO CRUSADES
商业的扩张促进了城市化,反过来,城市人口的增加又可以支持教育,包括神学高等教育以及法律、文科和医学等世俗学科。欧洲第一批大学很大程度上是从查理曼大帝建立的大教堂学校系统发展而来,部分是从伊斯兰学校复制的模式发展而来。巴黎大学声称它始于 12 世纪初,是欧洲最古老的高等教育机构,但根据章程,1158 年成立的博洛尼亚大学可能是最早正式成立的大学。牛津大学成立于 1167 年,巴黎大学于 1170 年正式成立。
This expansion of commerce promoted urbanization, and, in turn, increasing urban populations could support education, including higher education in theology as well as secular topics such as law, the liberal arts, and medicine. Developing in large part out of the cathedral school system established by Charlemagne and in part from models copied from Islamic schools, the first European universities were founded in this period. The University of Paris claims it began in the early 1100s, making it the oldest institution of higher learning in Europe, but by charter the 1158 founding of the University of Bologna is probably the earliest officially organized university. Oxford University was founded in 1167, and the University of Paris was formally established by 1170.
大学的创立使自然哲学研究合法化,并为学者们提供了生活和工作的地方。它们成为思想辩论的中心和新旧手稿的宝库。作为教学组织,它们培养了更多思想严谨的神学家,并帮助提高了神职人员的文化水平。它们还在培训日益壮大的世俗管理阶层方面发挥了重要作用。这些受过大学教育、有文化的学生不仅在教会和政府官僚机构中担任要职,还成为贵族和王室宫廷中不可或缺的成员。
The creation of the universities legitimized the study of natural philosophy and provided a place for scholars to live and work. They became the centers of intellectual debate and the repositories of manuscripts both old and new. As teaching organizations they produced more intellectually rigorous theologians and helped raise the level of literacy among the clergy. They also performed a vital role in training the growing secular managerial class. As well as holding positions of power in Church and government bureaucracies, these literate and university-trained students became essential members of the noble and princely courts.
正如伊斯兰学者首先收集希腊哲学,然后进行阿拉伯语翻译一样,西方学者也热切地寻找阿拉伯手稿并将其翻译成拉丁文。在这个快速翻译的时期,一些学者在向拉丁受众介绍自然哲学方面发挥了关键作用。巴斯的阿德拉尔(约 1080 年 - 约 1152 年)进行了许多翻译,专注于数学文本,例如 1126 年左右的 al-Khwarizmi 的《天文表》和Liber Ysagogarum Alchorismi。1142年,他将欧几里得的《几何原本》从阿拉伯语翻译出来,打开了希腊几何和数学的大门。他还试图在 1111 年撰写的《自然问题》中整合许多自然哲学的新知识。安条克的斯蒂芬 (fl. 1120) 于 1127 年翻译了哈里·阿巴斯的医学百科全书《王书》。切斯特的罗伯特 (fl. 1140) 跟随阿德拉尔的数学著作,于 1145 年翻译了花剌子米的《代数学》 。巴勒莫的尤金 (fl. 1150) 于 1154 年翻译了托勒密的《光学》,亨利库斯·阿里斯提普斯 (fl. 1150) 于 1156 年完成了亚里士多德的《气象学》。盖伦的作品于 1180 年左右被比萨的勃艮第翻译成拉丁文,通过医学介绍了自然哲学的另一个方面。
Just as Islamic scholars had first gathered Greek philosophy and then produced Arabic translations, Western scholars eagerly sought out Arabic manuscripts and set them in Latin. During this period of rapid translation a number of scholars were key in introducing natural philosophy to the Latin audience. Adelard of Bath (c. 1080–c. 1152) undertook a number of translations, concentrating on mathematical texts such as al-Khwarizmi’s Astronomical Tables and Liber Ysagogarum Alchorismi around 1126. In 1142 he translated Euclid’s Elements from Arabic, opening the door to Greek geometry and mathematics. He also attempted to put together much of the new knowledge of natural philosophy in Questiones Naturales, written in 1111. Stephen of Antioch (fl. 1120) translated Haly Abbas’s Liber Regalis, a medical encyclopedia, in 1127. Robert of Chester (fl. 1140) followed Adelard’s mathematical work with a translation of al-Khwarizmi’s Algebra in 1145. Eugenius of Palermo (fl. 1150) translated Ptolemy’s Optics in 1154, and Henricus Aristippus (fl. 1150) finished Aristotle’s Meteorologica in 1156. Galen was translated into Latin by Burgundio of Pisa around 1180, introducing another aspect of natural philosophy through medicine.
这对学者们来说是一个激动人心的时代,因为新知识一次又一次地从阿拉伯文献宝库中被发掘出来。希腊和阿拉伯自然哲学最重要的渠道之一是托莱多被基督教势力攻占后,雷蒙德大主教在托莱多建立了翻译机构。托莱多是一个理想的地点,因为它长期以来一直是基督教、犹太教和伊斯兰学者的聚会场所。克雷莫纳的杰拉德(1114-87 年)就是在那里发现了托勒密的天文学著作,并于 1175 年翻译了《天文学大成》,将希腊最优秀的天文学知识传授给了欧洲人。杰拉德一生中翻译了 80 多部其他作品,包括肯迪、塔比特·伊本·库拉、拉齐、法拉比、阿维森纳、希波克拉底、亚里士多德、欧几里得、阿基米德和亚历山大·阿芙洛狄西亚的作品。
It was an exciting time for scholars as new knowledge was uncovered one manuscript at a time from the treasure trove of Arabic sources. One of the most important conduits for Greek and Arabic natural philosophy was the school of translation established by Archbishop Raymond at Toledo after its fall to Christian forces. Toledo was an ideal location, since it had long been a meeting place for Christian, Jewish, and Islamic scholars. It was there that Gerard of Cremona (1114–87) discovered the astronomical work of Ptolemy and translated the Almagest in 1175, placing the best of Greek astronomical knowledge in European hands. Gerard translated over 80 other works during his lifetime, including the works of al-Kindi, Thabit ibn Qurra, al-Razi, al-Farabi, Avicenna, Hippocrates, Aristotle, Euclid, Archimedes, and Alexander of Aphrodisias.
自然哲学只占重新发现的文献的一小部分,但它使欧洲知识阶层对古人产生了更大的兴趣,他们渴望采纳和改编古人的作品。西塞罗和塞内加很受欢迎,而亚里士多德的逻辑体系在广泛的应用中具有重要意义。十二世纪的自然哲学家认为柏拉图的《蒂迈欧篇》比亚里士多德的作品更有价值,因为柏拉图的唯心主义与基督教神学非常吻合。在这一时期的犹太学者中,摩西·迈蒙尼德(1135-1204)最为著名;他的《迷途指津》试图将犹太哲学置于坚实的亚里士多德基础之上。这本书用阿拉伯语写成(迈蒙尼德是萨拉丁宫廷的一名医生),后来被翻译成希伯来语,后来又被翻译成拉丁语。
Natural philosophy represented only a small portion of the rediscovered texts, but it gave the intellectual class of Europe a greater taste for the ancients, whose work they were eager to adopt and adapt. Cicero and Seneca were popular, while Aristotle’s system of logic was significant in a wide range of applications. The natural philosophers of the twelfth century privileged Plato’s Timaeus over Aristotle’s works, because Plato’s idealism accorded well with Christian theology. Among Jewish scholars of this period Moses Maimonides (1135–1204) was the best known; his Dalalat al-Hairin (Guide to the Perplexed) attempted to place Jewish philosophy on a firm Aristotelian foundation. Written in Arabic (Maimonides was a physician at Saladin’s court), it was translated into Hebrew and later into Latin.
并非所有中世纪学者都将他们的研究局限于知识材料和对古代哲学家作品的重新发现。人们对炼金术文献中关于操纵自然的希望产生了极大的兴趣。1144 年,罗伯特·切斯特翻译了《Liber de Compositione Alchemie》(《炼金术合成书》),将炼金术引入了欧洲。这是一本阿拉伯化学概要,随后人们开始寻找贾比尔 (Geber) 和拉齐 (Rhazes) 的更详细著作,随之而来的是一系列研究。
Not all medieval scholars restricted their research to intellectual material and the rediscovery of the works of the ancient philosophers. There was enormous interest in the promise of the manipulation of nature offered by the alchemical texts. When Robert of Chester translated Liber de Compositione Alchemie (Book of the Composition of Alchemy) in 1144, he introduced alchemy to Europe. A compendium of Arabic chemistry, it was followed by a flurry of research as people hunted for more detailed work by Ja¯bir (Geber) and al-Razi (Rhazes).
十三世纪初,又出现了一股大学创办热潮,利用了新知识和不断增长的教育市场。帕多瓦大学成立于 1222 年,成为一所领先的医学院。那不勒斯大学紧随其后,成立于 1224 年,图卢兹大学紧随其后,成立于 1229 年。从 1231 年开始,剑桥大学成为牛津大学的主要竞争对手。罗马大学成立于 1244 年,索邦大学成立于 1253 年。
Early in the thirteenth century there was another burst of university founding that took advantage of the new knowledge and the growing market for education. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 and became a leading medical school. The University of Naples followed in 1224, with the University of Toulouse close behind in 1229. Starting in 1231 Cambridge became Oxford’s chief rival. The University of Rome was founded in 1244, and the Sorbonne University in 1253.
大学很快就成为欧洲知识活动的场所。自学成才者(那些自学成才的人)和早期的大教堂学校可能曾经与学者享有同等地位,但到了十三世纪末,神学教授的地位要高得多。这样,大学就成了知识的保护者和创造者。然而,它们本质上是保守的机构,所以一旦某些东西成为必读书籍,它就成为不容置疑的权威。同时,大学与天主教会的更大结构有着复杂的关系。它们很少完全受任何一位主教的控制,因此它们提供了教会批准但不受教会控制的空间。这使得关于信仰或理性至上的辩论可以在它们的城墙和城市中进行。虽然一些学者因不虔诚的观点而被监禁,但这些辩论能够进行这一事实说明了这些机构的权力和独立性。
The universities soon established themselves as the site of intellectual activity in Europe. While autodidacts (those who were self-taught) and those from earlier cathedral schools might once have claimed equal footing as scholars, by the end of the thirteenth century the professor of theology had much higher status. In this way the universities became both the protectors and creators of knowledge. However, they were essentially conservative institutions, so once something was made required reading, it became an unchallengeable authority. At the same time the universities stood in a complex relationship to the larger structure of the Catholic Church. They were seldom under the complete control of any one bishop, and thus they provided space that was sanctioned by the Church and yet not controlled by it. This allowed the debate about the primacy of faith or reason to be played out within their walls and cities. While several scholars were imprisoned for their impious views, the fact that these debates could take place at all speaks to the power and independence of these institutions.
基督教神学家们并不都乐意将阿拉伯和希腊哲学家的作品引入拉丁西方。亚里士多德尤其受到神学界的反对,因为他在许多自然哲学问题上与圣经相矛盾,例如宇宙的无限生命,而且作为异教徒,他对基督教权威提出了隐性挑战。由于亚里士多德在学生中很受欢迎,巴黎大学的当局开始担心异教哲学对在那里培养的未来神学家和世俗领袖的影响;因此,他们在 1210 年禁止阅读和教授他的自然哲学著作。这也是一场争夺权威的斗争,因为保守的神学院实际上将禁止亚里士多德的禁令强加给了更进步的文学院。 1215 年,教皇使节罗伯特·德·库尔松 (Robert de Courçon) 再次宣布禁令,1231 年教皇格里高利九世 (Pope Gregory IX) 再次下达禁令。然而,人们对亚里士多德的普遍兴趣促使格里高利九世 (Pope Gregory IX) 成立了一个委员会来审查亚里士多德的作品并清除任何在神学上存在问题的元素。
Christian theologians were not universally pleased that the work of Arabic and Greek philosophers was being introduced to the Latin West. Aristotle was particularly subject to theological objections since he contradicted the Bible on many issues of natural philosophy, such as the infinite life of the universe, and as a pagan he offered an implicit challenge to Christian authority. Because of Aristotle’s popularity among students, authorities at the University of Paris grew concerned over the effect of pagan philosophy on the future theologians and secular leaders being trained there; so, in 1210 they banned the reading and teaching of his works on natural philosophy. This was also a battle over authority, since the conservative Faculty of Theology effectively imposed the banning of Aristotle on the more progressive Faculty of Arts. The ban was renewed in 1215 by Robert de Courçon, a papal legate, and again by Pope Gregory IX in 1231. However, the general interest in Aristotle prompted Gregory to establish a commission to review Aristotle’s work and clean up any theologically problematic elements.
讽刺的是,禁止亚里士多德的自然哲学实际上促进了对它的研究,使它成为一种哲学禁果。这项禁令仅适用于巴黎大学,因此其他大学可以自由提供亚里士多德教学,这被用作吸引学生的卖点。此外,禁令只涵盖自然哲学,因此亚里士多德的逻辑著作尽管与自然哲学体系密切相关,但仍可供研究。对亚里士多德的需求持续增长,文本和学者的供应也成倍增加。最后,在 1255 年,学习亚里士多德的压力和文本的广泛可用性促使巴黎艺术学院通过了新的法规,使亚里士多德教学不仅是可以接受的,而且是艺术教育的必修内容。亚里士多德的作品在短短 45 年间从被禁止变为必修知识。
Ironically, the banning of Aristotle’s natural philosophy actually promoted the study of it, making it a kind of philosophical forbidden fruit. The ban applied only to the University of Paris, so other universities were free to offer Aristotelian instruction, and this was used as a selling feature to attract students. Further, the ban covered only natural philosophy, so Aristotle’s work on logic, despite being intimately bound to the system of natural philosophy, was still available for study. Demand for Aristotle continued to grow, and the supply of texts and scholars also multiplied. Finally, in 1255 pressure to learn Aristotle and the wide availability of texts led the Faculty of Arts at Paris to pass new statutes that made instruction in Aristotle not just acceptable but a mandatory element of an arts education. Aristotle’s works had gone from being outlawed to required knowledge in just 45 years.
亚里士多德的作品对拉丁西方的知识生活具有如此根本性的重要意义,以至于人们简称他为“哲学家”。尽管翻译工作仍在继续,但由于他的论证难度大,且现有文本往往不完整,因此人们严重依赖阿拉伯评论家。在重新引入的早期,最受欢迎的评论家是伊本·西纳 (阿维森纳)。到十三世纪中叶,鲁世德 (阿威罗伊) 已成为拉丁学者使用的主要评论家。与亚里士多德一样,鲁世德非常重要,因此人们称他为“评论家”。
The work of Aristotle became so fundamentally important to the intellectual life of the Latin West that he was referred to simply as “the Philosopher.” Although translation efforts continued, the difficulty of his arguments and the often-fragmentary nature of the available texts led to a heavy dependence on Arabic commentators. In the early period of reintroduction the most popular commentator was ibn Sina (Avicenna). By the middle of the thirteenth century Rushd (Averroes) had become the chief commentator used by Latin scholars. Like Aristotle, Rushd was so important that he was referred to as “the Commentator.”
如果认为这种对亚里士多德及其评论者的崇高评价暗示了对希腊材料的盲目或教条式的奉献,那么我们就对中世纪学术产生了错误的认识。多年来,历史学家们一直认为,中世纪的学术研究在很大程度上是衍生性的,因此是一条无趣但必要的途径,可以通往挑战希腊思想的后期研究。最近,历史学家们意识到,虽然对文本的奉献是中世纪学术的一个重要元素,但从最早的时候起,人们就一直在争论希腊自然哲学的各个方面。困扰中世纪学者的主要问题之一是希腊人不是基督徒,因此古代哲学的各个方面都必须在基督教正统的背景下进行辩论。由于大多数拉丁学者都是神职人员,一些人认为希腊思想的异教起源足以成为拒绝它的理由;这是禁止研究亚里士多德的部分动机。
This exalted treatment of Aristotle and his commentators gives us a false picture of medieval scholarship if it is taken to suggest a slavish or doctrinaire dedication to the Greek material. Historians for many years argued that medieval scholarship was largely derivative and thus an uninteresting but necessary path to later work that challenged Greek ideas. More recently, historians have realized that, while dedication to the texts was an important element of medieval scholarship, from the earliest times there was a constant debate about every aspect of Greek natural philosophy. One of the major concerns to plague medieval scholars was that the Greeks were not Christian, so every aspect of ancient philosophy had to be debated in the light of Christian orthodoxy. Since the majority of Latin scholars were members of the clergy, the pagan origin of Greek thought was seen by some as reason enough to reject it; this was part of the motivation for the banning of the study of Aristotle.
以教皇格里高利九世为代表的较为温和的群体准备吸收希腊思想的某些方面,只要它们不是明显的神学或与圣经权威直接矛盾。事实上,中世纪哲学家面临的首要挑战之一就是找到一种方法让希腊自然哲学与天启宗教共存。后者是救赎所必需的,但前者提供了一条理解上帝创造的途径,也提供了丰富的实践知识。罗伯特·格罗斯泰斯特 (c. 1168-1263) 是正式尝试将亚里士多德哲学与基督教神学结合起来的人之一。格罗斯泰斯特是牛津大学第一任校长,学识渊博。他在《后分析篇》中研究了亚里士多德的逻辑,在《物理学》 、《形而上学》和《气象学》中研究了亚里士多德的物理学和力学。格罗斯泰斯特在对逻辑和自然哲学的评论中将亚里士多德的思想与圣经思想相协调。例如,他认为,虽然上帝的创造优先于亚里士多德所使用的宇宙学,但这并不意味着亚里士多德关于宇宙物质组成的理论是错误的。
A more moderate group as typified by Pope Gregory IX was prepared to include aspects of Greek thought as long as they were not overtly theological or directly contradicted biblical authority. Indeed, one of the first challenges for medieval philosophers was to find a way by which Greek natural philosophy could coexist with revealed religion. The latter was necessary for salvation, but the former offered a path to understanding God’s creation as well as a wealth of practical knowledge. Among those who made a formal attempt to align Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology was Robert Grosseteste (c. 1168–1263). Grosseteste was the first chancellor of Oxford University and a man of enormous intellectual breadth. He worked on Aristotle’s logic in the Posterior Analytics and on his physics and mechanics from Physics, Metaphysics, and Meteorology. Grosseteste reconciled Aristotelian ideas with biblical thought in commentaries on logic and natural philosophy. For example, he argued that while creation by God took precedence over the cosmology used by Aristotle, it did not follow that Aristotle was wrong about the composition of matter in the universe.
格罗斯泰斯特对光学也非常感兴趣,他研究过欧几里得的《光学》和《天体光学》以及肯迪的《论方位》。他对光的迷恋源于部分原因是人们相信物质世界中的光类似于精神之光,通过精神之光,心灵可以获得关于真实形式或事物本质的某些知识。光是基本的物质实体,因此光学研究是自然哲学的基础研究。由于理解光学需要数学,格罗斯泰斯特将数学、自然哲学和宗教联系在一起。他的教学,尤其是对方济各会成员的教学,促使许多学者研究数学和自然哲学。
Grosseteste was also deeply interested in optics, working with Euclid’s Optica and Catoptica as well as al-Kindi’s De aspectibus. This fascination with light came in part from a belief that light in the material world was analogous to the spiritual light by which the mind gained certain knowledge about true forms or the essence of things. Light was the fundamental corporeal substance, and so the study of optics was the fundamental study in natural philosophy. Since understanding optics required mathematics, Grosseteste linked mathematics, natural philosophy, and religion together. His teaching, particularly to members of the Franciscan Order, led many scholars to the study of mathematics and natural philosophy.
继格罗斯泰斯特之后的是伟大的中世纪思想家阿尔伯特·马格努斯 (Albertus Magnus,约 1206-80 年)。阿尔伯特是巴黎大学两位多米尼加教授之一,他热衷于在教会背景下为希腊哲学找到一席之地,并挑战方济各会的思想地位。他撰写了大量关于哲学和神学的著作,并因许多关于自然主题的著作而闻名,这些作品涵盖了从地质学到猎鹰术以及植物和神奇野兽的力量。阿尔伯特是一位精力充沛的学者,他为所有现有的亚里士多德文本撰写了评论。由于他的工作范围广泛,他被称为“万能博士”,他不怕在自然或哲学问题上修改或纠正“哲学家”。阿尔伯特并没有提出基于希腊哲学的新正统思想,但他认为经过修正的自然哲学具有很大的实用性,可以为现有的正统思想所利用。因此,他希望通过智慧来赞美上帝的创造,并利用自然哲学的效用来帮助基督教达到至高无上的地位。
Following Grosseteste was the great medieval thinker Albertus Magnus (c. 1206–80). Albertus held one of the two Dominican professorships at the University of Paris and was keenly interested in finding a place for Greek philosophy within the context of the Church and in challenging the intellectual place of the Franciscans. He wrote extensively on philosophy and theology and is remembered for many works on natural topics, ranging from geology to falconry and the powers of plants and magical beasts. Albertus was an energetic scholar who wrote commentaries on all available Aristotelian texts. Because of the range of his work, he became known as “Doctor Universalis,” and he was not afraid to amend or correct “the Philosopher” on either natural or philosophical issues. Albertus did not propose a new orthodoxy based on Greek philosophy, but he argued that a corrected natural philosophy had great utility and could be exploited by the existing orthodoxy. As such, he expected the intellect to glorify the creation of God and the utility of natural philosophy to aid in making Christianity supreme.
阿尔伯图斯·马格努斯也是最受欢迎的中世纪文本之一《Liber Aggregationis》(英文名称为《秘密之书》)的作者。该文本由一位或多位不知名的作者撰写,甚至可能是阿尔伯图斯的学生,但据说是他所为。它是一本关于“草药、石头和某些野兽”的论文集,从现代角度来看,它似乎主要涉及魔法、占星术和毒蛇和狮鹫等神话中的野兽。然而,该作品试图将世界置于一个松散的亚里士多德框架中,其中既有普林尼对世界的百科全书式描述,也有伊斯兰炼金术士对物质的探究。虽然当时大多数严肃的学者鄙视这种神秘主义,但这类论文集却非常受欢迎。本书很大一部分内容采用了问题/解决方案的形式,提供了解决具体问题的公式和程序方法,比如这种防止醉酒的方法:
Albertus Magnus was also the supposed author of one of the most popular medieval texts, Liber Aggregationis, or, by its English title, the Book of Secrets. The text was written by an unknown author or authors, perhaps even students of Albertus, and attributed to him. It is a compendium of treatises on “herbs, stones, and certain beasts,” and from a modern perspective it seems to be mostly about magic, astrology, and mythical beasts such as the cockatrice and the griffin. Yet the work tries to set the world into a loosely Aristotelian framework, and there are aspects of both Pliny’s encyclopedic descriptions of the world and the material inquiries of the Islamic alchemists in it as well. While most serious scholars of the age disdained this kind of mysticism, such compendiums were enormously popular. A large section is set in a kind of problem/solution format, offering formulas and methods of procedure to deal with specific problems, such as this defense against drunkenness:
如果你能很好地理解那些可以感觉到的事物,你就不会喝醉。
If thou wilt have good understanding of things that may be felt, and thou may not be made drunken.
取一种叫做紫水晶的石头,它是紫色的,最好的是印度产的。它能防止醉酒,并能使人理解可以理解的事情。1
Take the stone which is called Amethystus, and it is of purple color, and the best is found in India. And it is good against drunkenness, and giveth good understanding in things that may be understood.1
《秘密之书》是一本中世纪魔法书,包含着魔法与自然哲学之间强有力的联系,尽管这种联系并不明确。从最简单的层面上讲,两者都是对未知世界的研究,都提供了通过命名和描述未知事物来控制未知事物的可能性。然而,《秘密之书》中的魔法是工具性的,而不是精神性的,这种区别对于那些对自然界看不见的力量和威力感兴趣的从业者来说很重要。《秘密之书》小心翼翼地避开了巫术、善恶超自然力量或召唤超自然力量的问题。虽然所列和描述的物品的属性非常奇妙,但它们存在于物品本身中,只有知识渊博的人才能看到,而且它们是自然的。
The Book of Secrets is a book of medieval magic and contains a powerful, if ill-defined, link between magic and natural philosophy. At the simplest level both were studies of an unknown world, and both offered the possibility of controlling the unknown through naming and describing it. Yet the magic of the Book of Secrets is instrumental rather than spiritual, and this distinction was important for practitioners interested in the unseen forces and powers of nature. The Book of Secrets carefully avoids the issue of witchcraft, supernatural powers of either good or ill, or calling on the powers of supernatural beings. As fantastic as were the properties of the items listed and described, they existed in the objects themselves, they were hidden except to the knowledgeable, and they were natural.
文本中最值得注意的元素之一是它使用了experimentari和experiri这两个术语,指的是实验而不仅仅是自然体验。虽然很难评估这些描述和处方是否有人相信,或者在多大程度上有人相信,但可以肯定的是,许多人对它们非常重视,并愿意尝试。即使阿尔伯图斯不是《秘密之书》的作者,他也确实倾向于一种受阿拉伯传统影响的亚里士多德自然哲学,其中包括一种更为实践性的自然研究方法。这与早期拉丁学者的方法不同,他们更感兴趣的是了解什么可能是真实的,而不是了解某种东西是什么样子,或者它与其他东西混合时会如何反应。
One of the most notable elements of the text is that it uses the terms experimentari and experiri, referring to experiments rather than just the experience of nature. While it is difficult to assess if or how much these descriptions and recipes were believed, it was certainly the case that many people took them seriously enough to try them. Even if Albertus was not the author of the Book of Secrets, he did favor a form of Aristotelian natural philosophy that was shaped by Arabic tradition and that included a more hands-on approach to the study of nature. This was a departure from the approach of earlier Latin scholars who were more interested in knowing what could be true than in knowing what something looked like, or how it might react when mixed with other things.
格罗斯泰斯特和阿尔伯特·马格努斯之后,自然哲学的路线出现分裂。罗杰·培根 (1214-1294 年左右) 等对自然哲学的研究方面更感兴趣的人开始效仿许多阿拉伯文献的实用方法。这一群体包括越来越多的炼金术士和占星家。那些对哲学更感兴趣并坚持希腊思想传统的人倾向于从训练心智和提供获取某些知识的方法的角度看待哲学。这一流派导致了托马斯·阿奎那(1225-74)和经院哲学家。第三种流派是中世纪工程师、泥瓦匠、铁匠、航海家和医士之间主要实用技能的传播。这一群体被其他群体所掩盖,因为他们很少属于知识阶层,留下的书面记录也很少;然而,很明显,从大教堂的建造到助产实践,一切都受到了自然哲学的影响,因为它渗透到了欧洲社会。
The path of natural philosophy split after Grosseteste and Albertus Magnus. Those more attracted to the investigative side of the subject, such as Roger Bacon (c. 1214–94), began to copy the practical approach of many of the Arabic sources. This group included the growing number of alchemists and astrologers. Those more interested in philosophy and an adherence to the Greek intellectual tradition tended to see the subject in terms of its ability to train the mind and provide ways of gaining certain knowledge. This stream led to Thomas Aquinas (1225–74) and the scholastics. A third stream can be seen in the spread of primarily practical skills among the engineers, masons, smiths, navigators, and healers of the Middle Ages. This group has been overshadowed by the others because they were rarely part of the intellectual class and left few written records; yet, it is clear that everything from the construction of the cathedrals to the practice of midwifery was affected by natural philosophy as it filtered through European society.
罗杰·培根是中世纪探究精神的完美典范。他曾在牛津和巴黎学习,后来加入了方济各会。他赞成自然哲学的实用性,尤其是亚里士多德更实用的作品中的自然哲学,并认为对自然的理解将有助于基督教。他撰写了光学论文,推测了水下和飞行器的设计,并支持实验作为发现方法的想法关于自然的事情。他是第一个提到火药的欧洲人,但不确定这是他独立发现的还是从东方资料中学到的(大约在九世纪在中国发现)并由他重新创造的。他提到火药的文本是他写于 1267 年左右的《大作》。这本书直到 1733 年才出版,目前尚不清楚这份手稿在当时的流传范围有多广。他的推测和对自然哲学的辩护并没有受到方济各会领导层的欢迎,但他坚持不懈,相信他有责任继续他的工作。最终,他受到了训斥,受到教团的监视,并最终于 1277 年因异端邪说而被监禁。
Roger Bacon is a perfect example of the spirit of inquiry in the Middle Ages. He studied at both Oxford and Paris and later joined the Franciscan Order. He favored the utility of natural philosophy, especially that found in Aristotle’s more practical works, and argued that the comprehension of nature would aid Christianity. He wrote on optics, speculated about the design of underwater and flying vehicles, and supported the idea of experiment as a method of discovering things about nature. He was the first European to mention gunpowder, but it is uncertain whether this was an independent discovery or learned from Eastern sources (having been discovered around the ninth century in China) and recreated by him. The text in which he mentioned gunpowder was his Opus Majus, written around 1267. The book was not published until 1733, and it is unclear how widely the manuscript circulated in his day. His speculations and defense of natural philosophy were not well received by the Franciscan leadership, but he persisted, believing that he had a duty to pursue his work. Eventually he was reprimanded, put under surveillance by his Order, and finally imprisoned for heresy in 1277.
3.2罗杰·培根的光学
3.2 ROGER BACON’S OPTICS
培根版的阿尔海森眼光学。在上方的圆圈中,光线从顶部进入眼睛并穿过玻璃体。下方的圆圈是眼睛内部的细节。
Bacon’s version of Alhazen’s optics of the eye. In the top circle, light enters the eye from the top and passes through the vitreous humor. The bottom circle is a detail of the interior of the eye.
来源:罗杰·培根的眼睛光学图,出自罗杰·培根的作品/环球历史档案馆/UTG/Bridgeman Images。
Source: Roger Bacon’s Optics Diagram of the Eye, from the work of Roger Bacon / Universal History Archive / UTG / Bridgeman Images.
知识流派中最伟大的人物是托马斯·阿奎那。他曾是阿尔伯特·马格努斯的学生,追随老师的脚步,阐明了神学和哲学之间的相互作用。对阿奎那来说,信仰和上帝的权威是首要的,但在那些没有被启示决定的领域,上帝已经赋予人类理解自然的工具。因此,宗教和哲学之间不可能存在真正的冲突,因为上帝已经赐予我们两者。当运用适当的神学和适当的哲学时,任何明显的矛盾都会消失。阿奎那追随了鲁世德(阿威罗伊)开创的哲学道路,从某种意义上说,他通过将亚里士多德的作品区分开来,拯救了他。他把亚里士多德获得某些(或真实)知识的体系和基于逻辑测试知识的方法放在一个盒子里。如果结果是通过适当的方法得出的,那么哲学的产物就不会与启示相矛盾。他把亚里士多德对世界的观察放在另一个盒子里。这些盒子里有一些错误的材料,但总体情况——比如天堂的完美——是正确的,因此,许多观察值得努力去清理或基督教化。最后一个盒子里是亚里士多德关于神学、政治和社会结构的思想。这些以及其他异教徒的错误观点被视为异端、虚假或被取代。
The greatest figure of the intellectual stream was Thomas Aquinas. He had been a student of Albertus Magnus, following his teacher’s lead in clarifying the interaction between theology and philosophy. For Aquinas, faith and the authority of God were primary, but in those areas not determined by revelation God had granted humankind the tools to understand nature. Thus, there could be no true conflict between religion and philosophy, since God had given us both. Any apparent contradictions disappeared when proper theology and proper philosophy were applied. Aquinas followed the philosophic path begun by Rushd (Averroes) and, in a sense, saved Aristotle by compartmentalizing his work. In one box he put Aristotle’s system for gaining certain (or true) knowledge and the method of testing knowledge based on logic. If results were arrived at through the proper methods, the product of philosophy could not contradict revelation. He placed Aristotle’s observations about the world in another box. These contained some erroneous material, but the big picture – such as the perfection of the heavens – was correct, and, as such, many of the observations were worth the effort of cleaning up or Christianizing. In the last box were Aristotle’s ideas about theology, politics, and social structure. These, along with errors by other pagans, were disregarded as being heretical, false, or superseded.
对亚里士多德哲学的讨论在一定程度上表明了希腊哲学对拉丁欧洲知识界的重要性。阿奎那的作品处于一场关于哲学(尤其是亚里士多德的作品)在知识领域地位的严肃学术辩论之中,但它也是为了反驳对正统思想的一些具体挑战而写的。他的主要目标之一是布拉班特的西格尔(约 1240-84 年),他持有强烈的亚里士多德世界观,并试图在不受神学约束的情况下教授哲学。作为回应,阿奎那写了《论理智的统一》,反对阿威罗伊斯派,虽然托马斯主义自然哲学专门攻击西格尔的立场,更普遍地认为哲学依赖于神学,不应独立存在。阿奎那获胜,托马斯主义自然哲学成为欧洲学术界的正统。
The discussion of Aristotelian philosophy indicates in part how important Greek philosophy had become for the intellectual community of Latin Europe. Aquinas’s work was situated within a serious scholarly debate about the place of philosophy (Aristotle’s work in particular) in the intellectual arena, but it was also written to counter a number of specific challenges to orthodoxy. One of his chief targets was Siger of Brabant (c. 1240–84) who held a strongly Aristotelian view of the world and attempted to teach philosophy without the constraint of theology. In response, Aquinas wrote On the Unity of the Intellect, against the Averroists, which, while specifically attacking Siger’s position, more generally argued that philosophy was dependent on theology and should not stand alone. Aquinas won, and Thomistic natural philosophy became the orthodoxy of the European scholarly world.
阿奎那的著作和推理非常深奥,甚至与当代中世纪学者相比也是如此,这反过来又使他的作品成为许多研究的焦点。请看他著作《论存在与本质》导言中的这段简短文字:
Aquinas’s writing and reasoning were dense, even compared to contemporary medieval scholars, and this in turn made his work the focus of much study. Consider this short passage from the Introduction to his work On Being and Essence:
此外,正如我们应该从复杂的事物中获取简单的知识,从后在的事物中获取先在的事物一样,从较容易的事物开始学习会更有帮助。因此,我们应该从存在的意义出发,走向本质的意义。2
Moreover, as we ought to take knowledge of what is simple from what is complex, and come to what is prior from what is posterior, so learning is helped by beginning with what is easier. Hence, we should proceed from the signification of being to the signification of essence.2
虽然从易于理解的事物转向复杂的事物似乎是合理的,但阿奎那对于简单与复杂的观念却引发了学者们 700 年的争论。
While it seems reasonable to move from what is easy to understand to what is complex, Aquinas’s idea of what was easy and complex has provided scholars with 700 years of debate.
到 14 世纪初,托马斯主义传统中的亚里士多德研究已完全占据了主导地位。虽然教会中仍有福音派成员质疑任何世俗研究都会分散信仰,但亚里士多德主义已经渗透到知识生活的方方面面,并与教父并列成为权威来源。亚里士多德方法论与中世纪兴趣(包括神学和柏拉图哲学的某些方面)的交汇发展成一种被称为经院哲学的哲学形式。经院哲学家与大学和多米尼加等更倾向于知识的宗教团体联系密切。
By the beginning of the fourteenth century the study of Aristotle in the Thomistic tradition was in complete ascendancy. While there were still evangelical members of the Church who questioned any worldly study as a distraction from faith, Aristotelianism had flowed into every aspect of intellectual life and had taken up a position alongside the Church fathers as a source of authority. The intersection of Aristotelian methodology and medieval interests including theology and certain aspects of Platonic philosophy developed into a form of philosophy known as scholasticism. The scholastics were closely associated with the universities and the more intellectually inclined religious orders such as the Dominicans.
经院哲学代表了拉丁教会最强大的智识主义,可以追溯到公元四世纪的奥古斯丁。在中世纪早期,经院哲学更多地归功于柏拉图及其唯心主义,而不是亚里士多德。除了他的逻辑之外,很少有人知道他的理论。经院哲学家的基本方法是辩证法,因此问题以建立两个相互矛盾的立场的方式提出。通过提出相互矛盾的初始立场来解决问题的想法在希腊人中是众所周知的,并构成了苏格拉底使用的对话形式的基础,但中世纪学者将这种方法提升到了新的复杂程度。这始于将论证形式组织成论点、反对意见和解决方案。彼得·阿伯拉尔 (1079-1142) 的《是与否》是这种方法的开创性文本之一。托马斯·阿奎那在调和亚里士多德与基督教时使用了这种方法。
Scholasticism represents the strongest vein of intellectualism in the Latin Church and can be traced back to Augustine in the fourth century. In the early medieval period it owed more to Plato and his idealism than to Aristotle, who was little known except for his logic. The basic method for the scholastics was the dialectic, so that questions were posed in such a way as to establish two contradictory positions. The idea of resolving a question by presenting contradictory initial positions was well known to the Greeks and makes up the basis of the dialogue form used by Socrates, but the medieval scholars took this method to new levels of intricacy. This began with a formalized organization of the argument into thesis, objections, and solutions. Peter Abelard’s (1079–1142) Sic et non (Yes and No) was one of the seminal texts for this method. Thomas Aquinas used it in his reconciliation of Aristotle with Christianity.
经院哲学家的历史问题就在于此,因为他们对亚里士多德的崇拜如此强烈,以至于随着时间的推移,他们的体系从一种理解世界的方法转变为一种关于世界的公理陈述。经院哲学家本质上是理性主义者,他们认为理性是理解宇宙的必要条件,但他们创建的体系依赖于一套当时基本上不容置疑的权威。这并不意味着辩论结束了,事实上辩论仍然是学者的基本技能之一。大学采用dissertatio作为获得更高学位的方法。这种技能一直延续到现代,论文和答辩制度被用来获得哲学博士学位。该体系认为,论文是学生提出的论点,学生公开为该论点辩护,以反驳该领域知识渊博的学者提出的问题;我们继续使用中世纪学者创建的方法,表明这是一个多么强大的教育体系。然而,通过不断辩论同样的问题,可以获得的新见解是有限的。因此,辩论并不关心是否能得出结论,而更多地被视为一种训练新手理解既定答案或打击对手的工具。
Herein lies the historical problem of the scholastics, since their dedication to Aristotle became so strong that, over time, their system was transformed from a method for understanding the world into an axiomatic statement about the world. The scholastics were rationalists at heart in that they argued reason was required to understand the universe, but they created a system that relied on a set of authorities that were then largely placed beyond question. This did not mean that debate ended, and in fact it remained one of the fundamental skills for scholars. Universities took up the dissertatio as the method to achieve higher degrees. This skill extends to the modern day with the dissertation and defense system used to obtain a PhD, a doctorate in philosophy. The system supposes that the thesis is an argument made by a student who publicly defends it against questions posed by scholars knowledgeable in the field; our continued use of the method created by the medieval scholars indicates how robust an educational system it is. There was a limit, however, to the amount of new insight that could be gained by perpetually debating the same issues. Thus, the debates were less concerned with reaching a conclusion and were seen more as a tool to train novices to understand the established answer or to bash opponents back into line.
当亚里士多德在通往正统的道路上经历神学和哲学的修正时,另一种研究自然世界的渠道并没有受到同样的合法化过程,因为它不属于学校体系。与医学、天文学、数学或哲学相比,炼金术引起了包括王子、医生、教师、君主、宗教领袖、工匠和平民在内的广泛受众对自然哲学的兴趣。如果仅从数量上看,炼金术士是最常见的自然研究的支持者。由于伊斯兰炼金术士的工作基于亚里士多德物质理论的某个版本,拉泽斯和格伯的作品成为希腊自然哲学作为一门实用艺术进入拉丁西方的最重要渠道。这对自然哲学产生了积极和消极的影响。积极的一面是,它扩大了对物质世界的研究,并有助于引入技能和实验的概念。消极的一面是,首先,与之相关的江湖骗术的程度,其次,炼金术士的保密性甚至偏执,这与自然哲学特有的公共知识概念背道而驰。
While Aristotle was undergoing theological and philosophical revision on the road to orthodoxy, another conduit for investigations of the natural world was not being subjected to the same process of legitimization, because it was not a part of the school system. More than medicine, astronomy, mathematics, or philosophy, alchemy brought an interest in natural philosophy to a wide audience that included princes, physicians, teachers, monarchs, religious leaders, craftspeople, and commoners. If only by sheer numbers, alchemists were the most common proponents of the study of nature. Because the Islamic alchemists based their work on a version of Aristotelian matter theory, the works of Rhazes and Geber were the greatest conduit of Greek natural philosophy as a practical art into the Latin West. This had positive and negative effects on natural philosophy. On the positive side, it expanded the study of the material world and was instrumental in introducing skills and the concept of experiments. The negative aspects were, first, the degree of charlatanism that came to be associated with it, and, second, the alchemists’ secrecy and even paranoia, which was contrary to the concept of public knowledge so characteristic of natural philosophy.
中世纪的骗子很多,他们利用上流社会和下流社会的贪婪和轻信。基本的骗局很简单。骗子声称发现了制造魔法石的方法,从而说服一位富有的恩人支持从贱金属中实际生产黄金。在生产过程中,炼金术士由赞助人提供住处、食物和衣服,甚至可能得到一笔津贴来支付其他生活费用。此外,还需要昂贵而奇特的材料。由于炼金术知识是神秘而秘密的,受害者中谁能说这种昂贵的白色粉末不是用凤凰羽毛制成并从中国进口的稀有成分?除了间接赚到的钱之外,炼金术士通常需要大量黄金作为种子,将未分化的原始物质转化为贵金属。
The medieval charlatans were many, and they played on the greed and gullibility of both the high and low born. The basic con was simple. The charlatan claimed to have discovered the process for creating the Philosopher’s Stone, thus persuading a rich benefactor to support the actual production of gold from base metals. During the production, the alchemist was housed, fed, and clothed by the patron and might even be given a stipend to cover other living expenses. Also, costly and exotic materials were needed. Since alchemical knowledge was arcane and secret, who among the victims could say that the expensive white powder was not a rare ingredient made from the feathers of a phoenix and imported from Cathay? In addition to the money made indirectly, the alchemist often required quantities of gold as a seed for the transformation of undifferentiated prime matter into the precious metal.
骗子的炼金术士很容易找到受害者。中世纪的世界充满了怪兽、恶魔和魔术师,所以炼金术与对超自然力量存在的信仰相吻合。此外,物质嬗变也被教会作为教义进行宣扬。在变体论中,圣餐中的面包和葡萄酒转化为基督的身体和血液,而许多圣经故事都以某种方式与物质嬗变有关,例如罗得的妻子从肉变成盐,夏娃由亚当的肋骨创造,或者基督将水变成酒。虽然教会禁止巫术并视魔法为危险和邪恶,但炼金术正是通过教会传入欧洲,被翻译和抄录在抄写本中,被教皇和红衣主教研究,并被僧侣们实践。
Charlatan alchemists found ready victims. The medieval world was full of fantastic beasts, evil spirits, and magicians, so alchemy fit with the belief in the existence of supernatural forces. In addition, transmutation of matter was preached as doctrine by the Church. In transubstantiation the Eucharist bread and wine were transformed into the body and blood of Christ, while many biblical stories hinged on transformation of matter in some way, such as Lot’s wife turning from flesh to salt, Eve being created from Adam’s rib, or Christ changing water into wine. While the Church outlawed witchcraft and regarded magic as dangerous and evil, it was through the Church that alchemy came to Europe, was translated and transcribed in the scriptoria, was studied by popes and cardinals, and was practiced by monks.
炼金术士的故事之所以复杂,是因为“真正的”炼金术士(那些不是骗子的人)也需要赞助人和资金来开展他们的工作。如果这意味着偶尔要改善结果以安抚赞助人,那就是研究的代价。炼金术士还面临着相互矛盾的压力,他们必须保密他们的工艺(出于个人和经济原因),为了吸引资助者,他们必须公开自己的研究成果。这在今天仍然是一个问题,为了获得实验资金,有时科学家会为了获得实验资金而捏造或篡改结果(或至少得出远远超出证据的结论)。3
What complicates the story of the alchemists was that the “true” alchemists (those who were not simply con artists) also needed patrons and funds to carry out their work. If that meant occasionally improving results to placate patrons, that was the price of research. There were also the contradictory pressures on the alchemists to keep their processes secret (for personal and financial reasons) and the necessity of making their work public in order to attract patrons. This continues to be a problem even today, when the pressure to produce results has occasionally led scientists to fabricate or adulterate results (or at least produce conclusions far beyond their evidence) in order to secure funding for their experiments.3
维拉诺瓦的阿诺德 (c. 1235–c. 1311) 是一位真正的中世纪炼金术士的典范。他是一位著名的医生,同时也是一位占星家和炼金术士。他写了一篇关于嬗变的论文,名为《宝藏中的宝藏,哲学家的玫瑰经和所有秘密中的最大秘密》,在论文中他声称自己发现了柏拉图、亚里士多德和毕达哥拉斯所知的物质的秘密。他告诉读者,他不会有所保留,但是他们必须阅读其他书籍才能理解他作品背后隐藏的道理。嬗变可以通过一种金属净化来实现,这种净化只会留下银和金等贵重元素。这项任务需要通过一种由汞制成的生命之水来实现,而这种生命之水又被用来生产一种灵丹妙药,这种灵丹妙药可以将一千倍于其重量的贱金属转化为金或银(取决于灵丹妙药)。这个过程以基督的生平为背景进行描述,涵盖受孕、出生、受难和复活。虽然大部分内容都是理论性的,但其中有足够的实践指导(和实际工作的证据)来鼓励读者尝试复制阿诺德的作品。
Arnold of Villanova (c. 1235–c. 1311) is a good example of a true medieval alchemist. Famous as a physician, he was also an astrologer and alchemist. He wrote a treatise on transmutation called The Treasure of Treasures, Rosary of the Philosophers and Greatest Secret of All Secrets, in which he claimed to have found the secret of matter known to Plato, Aristotle, and Pythagoras. He told his readers that he would hold nothing back, but that they must read other books to understand the hidden reasoning behind his work. Transmutation could be achieved through a kind of purification of metal that would leave behind only the noble elements of silver and gold. This was to be accomplished by an aqua vitae (water of life) made from mercury, which in turn was used to produce an elixir that could convert a thousand times its weight in base metal into gold or silver (depending on the elixir). The process was described in terms of the life of Christ, covering conception, birth, crucifixion, and resurrection. While most of the material was theoretical, there was enough practical direction (and evidence of actual work) to encourage readers to attempt to replicate Arnold’s work.
虽然炼金术是一种不受古代哲学主导的研究材料的方法,但中世纪学者们自己也在悄悄地研究自然,发现亚里士多德的观察有缺陷。考虑到经院哲学的影响,他们并不像表面上那样盲目地信奉亚里士多德的文本。通过使用亚里士多德的方法,中世纪学者们挑战了什么是真正的知识,而没有冒着攻击权威的风险,特别是如果他们专注于亚里士多德的观察材料。在典型的方法中,自然哲学家会先赞扬亚里士多德,然后要么继续探索他未涉及的领域,要么以对他无可挑剔的体系进行适度修正的形式展示新的想法。
While alchemy was one way of investigating material that was not dominated by ancient philosophy, medieval scholars were themselves quietly examining nature and finding Aristotelian observations wanting. They were not as slavishly devoted to the Aristotelian texts as they may appear to be, given the effect of scholasticism. By using Aristotelian methodology, medieval scholars challenged what was true knowledge without risking an attack on authority, especially if they concentrated on the observational material in the compartmentalized Aristotle. In a typical approach, the natural philosopher would begin by praising Aristotle and then proceed either to explore an area that he had not covered or to demonstrate a new idea in the guise of a moderate correction to his impeccable system.
这可以从罗伯特·格罗斯泰斯特和弗赖贝格的狄奥多里克(约 1250-1310 年)等人的著作中看出,他们都研究光学和彩虹。亚里士多德认为彩虹是阳光反射到云层中的水滴的结果,这些水滴就像小镜子一样。相比之下,阿拉伯光学研究及其更实用的方面表明彩虹是由折射产生的。格罗斯泰斯特开始了他的研究,如下:
This can be seen in the work of people such as Robert Grosseteste and Theodoric of Freiberg (c. 1250–1310) who both worked on optics and the rainbow. Aristotle argued that the rainbow was the result of sunlight reflecting off water droplets in clouds that acted like tiny mirrors. Arab work on optics with its more practical aspects showed in contrast that the rainbow was created by refraction. Grosseteste began his examination as follows:
对彩虹的研究是透视学学者和物理学家共同关心的问题。物理学家需要知道事实,透视学学者需要知道解释。因此,亚里士多德在他的《气象学》一书中没有透露透视学学者所关心的解释;但他将物理学家所关心的彩虹事实浓缩成一篇简短的论述。因此,在本论文中,我们承诺根据我们有限的能力和可用的时间来提供透视学学者所关心的解释。4
Investigation of the rainbow is the concern of both the student of perspective and the physicist. It is for the physicist to know the fact and for the student of perspective to know the explanation. For this reason Aristotle, in his book Meteorology, has not revealed the explanation, which concerns the student of perspective; but he has condensed the facts of the rainbow, which are the concern of the physicist, into a short discourse. Therefore, in the present treatise we have undertaken to provide the explanation, which concerns the student of perspective, in proportion to our limited capability and the available time.4
因此,格罗斯泰斯特辩称,他并没有证明亚里士多德关于彩虹的理论是错误的;相反,他只是填补了亚里士多德没有涉及的那部分研究。这是经院自然哲学家常用的伎俩,让他们能够保持对哲学家的忠诚,同时展示原创作品,而不必担心被指责为傲慢,将自己的作品置于哲学家之上。
Thus, Grosseteste argued that he was not demonstrating that Aristotle was wrong about the rainbow; rather, he was merely filling in that part of the investigation that Aristotle did not cover. This was a common ploy for scholastic natural philosophers, allowing them to maintain their allegiance to the Philosopher while they presented original work without fear of being accused of hubris for placing their work above his.
狄奥多里克赞扬了亚里士多德,然后抛弃了他的理论,提出自己的理论,该理论基于折射和反射。这可能基于他从海森的《光学书》中学到的材料。他提供了一种测试落在雨滴上的光的行为的方法,方法是取一个玻璃球,在里面装满水,然后用光照射它。(见图3.3。)虽然狄奥多里克的工作并不是拉丁西方实验的第一个例子,但它经常被认为是实验主义的先驱,特别是因为他的结果与我们今天所看到的基本上是一样的。它很好地体现了亚里士多德哲学与检验观察的举措之间的智力桥梁,而这种举措将改变自然研究。
Theodoric praised Aristotle and then tossed aside his theory to present his own, one based on refraction and reflection. This was likely based on material he learned from Alhazen’s Book of Optics. He offered a method of testing the behavior of light that falls on a raindrop by obtaining a glass globe, filling it with water, and shining a light on it. (See figure 3.3.) While Theodoric’s work was not the first example of experiment in the Latin West, it is often pointed to as a precursor to experimentalism, particularly because his results are essentially those we find today. It is a good example of the kind of intellectual bridge between Aristotelian philosophy and the move to test observations that would transform the study of nature.
3.3狄奥多里克的《彩虹》(约 1304 年)
3.3 THEODORIC’S RAINBOW FROM DE IRIDE (c. 1304)
右侧的小圆圈代表雨滴,它们反射和折射从左角进入并在中间底部看到的光线。
The small circles at the right represent raindrops that reflect and refract the light entering from the left corner and seen at the middle bottom.
在亚里士多德看来,自然的真理存在于将逻辑应用于观察而产生的智力构造中。换句话说,我们知道真理是因为我们有能力将分类和解释系统应用于感知。狄奥多里克并不否认亚里士多德体系,但他反对亚里士多德感知的位置。肉眼无法辨别正确的感知,因此彩虹的形成必须以一种能够让感官清楚地看到的方式进行建模。玻璃球不是雨滴,但狄奥多里克隐含地假设它必须类似于雨滴,因此必须代表雨滴的物理状况。彩虹的真相不再仅仅存在于观察者(感官和智力)中,还必须存在于复制物理条件的装置中。
In Aristotle, the truth about nature is to be found in the intellectual construct that results from the application of logic to observation. In other words, we know the truth because of our ability to apply a system of classification and explanation to sense perception. Theodoric does not deny the Aristotelian system, but he pushes against the Aristotelian location of sense perception. The unaided eye cannot discern the correct sense perception, so the creation of the rainbow must be modeled in such a way that the event can be made clear to the senses. The glass globe is not a raindrop, but Theodoric makes the implicit assumption that it must be analogous to a raindrop and thus must represent the physical condition of the raindrop. The truth about the rainbow no longer lies solely in the observer (the senses and the intellect) but must also reside in the apparatus that replicates the physical conditions.
虽然我们已经接受了狄奥多里克著作背后的推理方式,但通过这种方法获得某些知识并非不言而喻。从观察中推理的主要问题之一是无法通过归纳得出确定性结论。根据定义,感知依赖于归纳:一个只注意到白天鹅的观察者可能会合理地从一系列特定观察得出天鹅只能是白色的一般结论。由于观察不能限制黑天鹅的可能性,观察者也无法知道所有可能的天鹅都被看到了(因为这包括过去和未来的天鹅),所以最好的说法是所有观察到的天鹅都是白色的。同样,在中世纪,亚里士多德反对实验仍然受到重视。也就是说,强迫自然以非自然的方式进行(在实验中)并不能让人洞察其自然行为。
While we have come to accept the kind of reasoning behind Theodoric’s work, it was not self-evident that certain knowledge could be gained by such a method. One of the principal problems of reasoning from observation was the impossibility of certainty by induction. By definition, sense perception relies on induction: an observer noticing only white swans might reasonably go from a series of particular observations to the general conclusion that swans could only be white. Since observation cannot limit the possibility of a black swan, nor can the observer know that all possible swans have been seen (since that would include both past and future swans), the best that can be said is that all observed swans are white. Likewise, in the Middle Ages, the argument Aristotle had made against experiments was still taken seriously. That is, forcing nature to perform unnaturally (in an experiment) does not give one insight into its natural behavior.
对亚里士多德/经院哲学体系中某些知识的可能性的怀疑并不罕见。攻击的主要来源是神秘主义倾向的神学家,他们反对理性主义和逻辑,但也有哲学上的挑战。最有力的怀疑论者是奥卡姆的威廉(1285-1349 年),他攻击亚里士多德的关系和实质类别,从而破坏了物理学和形而上学。奥卡姆认为,关系是在观察者的头脑中产生的,并不代表宇宙中的任何潜在秩序。因此,亚里士多德的四个元素领域只存在于头脑中,摧毁了亚里士多德解释的整个大厦。奥卡姆还挑战了亚里士多德的目的论,认为不可能通过经验或基于第一原理的逻辑来证明任何特定事物都有最终原因。奥卡姆对这一哲学的辩护部分基于简约定律,通常称为“奥卡姆剃刀”。他认为“若无必要,不应假定多元性”。5用更直接的语言来说,这意味着对某个问题的解释不会通过增加论据而变得更好。作为一种哲学手段,它还表明,当面对一个现象的多种解释时,选择最简单的解释才是明智的。这个想法最初并不是奥卡姆的(在迈蒙尼德甚至亚里士多德的作品中都可以找到哲学简约思想的版本),但它是他的指导原则之一。在奥卡姆看来,亚里士多德的许多复杂体系都是不必要的或无法证明的。
Skepticism about the possibility of certain knowledge as formulated in the Aristotelian/scholastic system was not uncommon. The primary source of attack came from mystically inclined theologians who objected to rationalism and logic altogether, but there were philosophic challenges as well. The most forceful skeptic was William of Ockham (1285–c. 1349), who attacked the Aristotelian categories of relation and substance, thereby undermining both physics and metaphysics. Ockham argued that relations were created in the mind of the observer and did not represent any underlying order in the universe. Thus, Aristotle’s four spheres of elements existed only in the mind, collapsing the whole edifice of Aristotelian explanation. Ockham also challenged Aristotelian teleology, arguing that it was impossible to prove by experience or logic based on first principles that there was a final cause for any particular thing. Part of Ockham’s defense of this philosophy was based on the Law of Parsimony, more commonly called “Ockham’s Razor.” He argued that “plurality should not be posited without necessity.”5 In more direct language this meant that an explanation of some problem would not be made better by adding arguments to it. As a philosophical device, it also suggested that, when faced with more than one explanation for a phenomenon, it was wise to choose the simplest. This idea was not originally Ockham’s (versions of the idea of philosophical parsimony can be found in the work of Maimonides and even Aristotle), but it was one of his guiding principles. Much of Aristotle’s elaborate system seemed to Ockham to be unnecessary or unprovable.
除了挑战经院哲学,奥卡姆还挑战了教会的等级制度。他认为启示是真知的唯一来源,这种信念使他与教皇权威的政策相悖。尽管他愿意接受教会在精神事务上的至高无上地位,但他反对将教皇权威扩展到世俗问题,例如君主服从教会的世俗权威。因为他的公开言论反对意见,他于1328年6月6日被逐出教会。当时他受到神圣罗马帝国皇帝路易四世的保护和赞助,因此他免受教皇的愤怒。
In addition to challenging scholasticism Ockham also challenged the hierarchy of the Church. He believed that revelation was the only source of true knowledge, and this belief set him at odds with the policy of papal authority. Although willing to accept the supremacy of the Church on spiritual matters, he objected to the extension of papal authority to secular issues such as the subordination of monarchs to the Church’s temporal authority. For his loud and public objections, he was excommunicated on June 6, 1328. At that time he was under the protection and patronage of Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV, so he was protected from the wrath of the pope.
奥卡姆派人数不多,部分原因是他们的立场在政治上很危险,但他们的影响却很广泛。他们的哲学被称为“唯名论”,因为它否认抽象实体或普遍性的实际存在。延伸而言,自然界只能用“偶然”的术语来描述。偶然的东西可能是真的,也可能是假的。考虑“所有天鹅都是白色的”这个说法。这个结论可以通过观察得出,并被认为是普遍正确的,但当发现黑天鹅座或澳大利亚黑天鹅时,这个结论就被证明是错误的。事情取决于命题之外的因素。如果普遍性不存在,而自然是偶然的,那么发现自然界任何东西的唯一方法就是通过观察,所有一般性陈述(如分类)都可能根据进一步的观察而进行修改。这种哲学是一些哲学家远离传统形而上学领域研究、转向经验研究的一种趋势的一部分。此外,奥卡姆派的立场主张哲学独立于神学。虽然他们不是唯一这样做的群体,但唯名论者反对大多数中世纪思想家,他们接受阿奎那的立场,即哲学从属于神学。这是将自然与超自然分开的另一种形式,如果要独立研究自然哲学,这是必要的一步。
The Ockhamites were few in number, in part because the position was dangerous politically, but they had a wide impact. Their philosophy was labeled “nominalism” because it denied the actual existence of abstract entities or universals. By extension, the natural world could only be described in “contingent” terms. Something that is contingent might be true or might equally be false. Consider the statement “all swans are white.” This conclusion could be reached by observation and held to be universally true, but such a conclusion was proven false when the Cygnus atratus or Australian black swan was discovered. The matter is contingent on factors external to the proposition. If universals did not exist and nature was contingent, then the only way to discover anything about the natural world was through observation, and all general statements (such as classification) were potentially subject to revision based on further observation. This philosophy was part of a trend by some philosophers away from the study of the traditional realm of metaphysics and toward the study of experience. Moreover, the Ockhamite position suggested the independence of philosophy from theology. Although it was not the only group to do this, the nominalists opposed the majority of medieval thinkers who accepted Aquinas’s position that philosophy was subordinate to theology. This was another form of the separation of the natural from the supernatural, which was a necessary step if there were to be an independent study of natural philosophy.
奥卡姆的死发生在中世纪最大的自然灾害——瘟疫或黑死病之前。这场瘟疫始于 1330 年代的中国,由商人带到黑海,意大利商人、水手和船上的老鼠被感染,并于 1347 年传到欧洲。这种疾病非常可怕,通过空气、接触或跳蚤叮咬传播。人们通常在接触后数小时内死亡。它被称为黑死病,因为它会导致身体上形成淋巴结(因此称为鼠疫),或充满暗血的肿胀,尤其是在腹股沟、腋窝和喉咙的淋巴结附近。意大利作家薄伽丘写道,受害者“与朋友共进午餐,与祖先共进晚餐6许多历史学家认为,五年内死亡人数为 2500 万人,占欧洲人口的三分之一,但实际死亡人数可能高达 50%。许多城镇和村庄由于人与人之间的距离太近导致疾病迅速蔓延,人口完全减少。由于欧洲人在瘟疫到来之前已经经历了一系列歉收,营养不良和饥饿已经使人口变得虚弱,因此瘟疫的影响更加严重。
Ockham’s death occurred just before the greatest natural disaster of the Middle Ages: the plague or Black Death. The plague started in China in the 1330s and was carried by traders to the Black Sea, where Italian merchants, sailors, and shipboard rats were infected and passed it on to Europe in 1347. The disease was horrific, spreading through air, by touch, or by flea bite. People often died within hours of exposure. It was called the Black Death because it caused buboes (hence bubonic plague), or swellings filled with dark blood, to form on the body, especially near the lymph nodes in the groin, armpits, and throat. The Italian author Boccaccio wrote that victims “ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors in paradise.”6 Many historians place the death toll at 25 million in five years, or one-third of Europe’s population, but the figure may have been as high as 50 per cent. Many towns and villages, where the proximity of people led to a rapid spread of the disease, were totally depopulated. The effect of the plague was made worse because the people of Europe had experienced a series of bad harvests before it arrived, and malnutrition and starvation had already weakened the population.
瘟疫的出现恰逢百年战争(1337-1453 年),法国与英国对立。英国失去了大部分大陆土地,但长期的冲突消灭了法国相当一部分贵族。大分裂(1378-1417 年)也紧随黑死病之后,导致教会中央权力分裂,因为罗马和阿维尼翁的教皇互相竞争,试图同时统治。那个时代的所有死亡和破坏都鼓励人们转向更保守的神学,并促进了神秘基督教的复兴。黑死病似乎确实是圣经中的诅咒,任何世俗行为都无法对它产生任何影响。医生经常将疾病归咎于糟糕的占星事件,巴黎大学医学院得出结论,瘟疫是木星、土星和火星合相污染空气的结果。历史学家芭芭拉·塔奇曼将这个时代称为“多灾多难的 14 世纪”,7标志着中世纪欧洲的终结。尽管中世纪的社会结构花了近 400 年的时间才从西欧社会中完全消失,但开辟新道路的不是哲学家、社会改革者、商人、君主或教皇,而是疾病带来的痛苦。
The appearance of the plague coincided with the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453) that pitted France against England. England lost most of its continental lands, but the prolonged conflict wiped out a significant portion of France’s nobility. The Great Schism (1378–1417) also followed on the heels of the Black Death and led to the central authority of the Church splitting, as competing popes in Rome and Avignon attempted to rule at the same time. All the death and destruction of the era encouraged a swing toward a more conservative theology and promoted a resurgence in mystical Christianity. The Black Death certainly seemed like a biblical curse, and no earthly action had any effect on it. Physicians often blamed disease on bad astrological events, and the medical faculty at the University of Paris concluded that the plague was the result of a conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars that corrupted the air. The “calamitous 14th century,” as historian Barbara Tuchman called the era,7 marked the beginning of the end of medieval Europe. Although it took almost 400 years for the social structure of the Middle Ages to fade completely from Western European society, the new path was opened not by philosophers, social reformers, merchants, monarchs, or popes, but by the misery of disease.
在瘟疫年代,自然哲学领域的原创性研究较少,因为大多数幸存下来的神学家和学者更关心死亡和救赎,而不是自然结构。尼古拉斯·奥雷斯姆 (c. 1323–82) 是利雪的主教,他是少数继续研究自然哲学的人之一。奥雷斯姆在数学方面的工作是解析几何的前身,因为他试图用几何来表示速度。在《天体与世界之书》 ——对亚里士多德的《天体论》的评论中,他对地球可能运动进行了迄今为止最全面的分析,得出结论认为证据支持托勒密的地心模型。奥雷斯姆写作了《天体与世界》 ,并在查理五世的命令下将亚里士多德的一些著作翻译成法语,他的作品标志着人们态度的转变,即转向使用白话文而不是拉丁文。
In the plague years less original work was done in natural philosophy, since most theologians and scholars who did survive were more concerned about death and salvation than about the structure of nature. Nicolas Oresme (c. 1323–82), the Bishop of Lisieux, was one of the few who continued to work on natural philosophy. Oresme’s work on mathematics was a precursor to analytical geometry as he tried to represent velocity geometrically. In Le Livre du Ciel et Monde, a commentary on Aristotle’s De Cælo, he presented the most comprehensive examination of the possible motion of the Earth to date, concluding that the evidence supported the geocentric model of Ptolemy. Oresme wrote Ciel et Monde and translated a number of Aristotle’s works into French at the command of Charles V, and as such his work marked a shift in attitude toward the use of vernacular rather than Latin.
瘟疫对自然哲学的最大影响是间接的。如此多的人死亡意味着,当瘟疫过去后,这片土地上的人烟稀少。对于那些幸存下来的人来说,生活比以前有了更多的可能性。幸存者继承了受害者的财产,许多人突然变得富有,因为他们不仅继承了直系亲属的遗产,而且往往还继承了远亲的遗产。良田充足,但耕种的人却很少,因此农民从地主那里得到了更好的待遇,有能力购买更多的奢侈品。农民也更容易离开土地,从事贸易和商业活动。城市、国家和富裕的贵族经常不得不竞争吸引工匠甚至农民到他们的地区。蓬勃发展的经济使那些能够满足奢侈品需求的人变得富有,这些奢侈品包括丝绸和精美的布料、香料、象牙、香水、玻璃器皿、珠宝,以及从鞋类到盔甲到机械玩具的大量制成品。在主要的商业中心,尤其是意大利的热那亚和威尼斯城邦,这些新货币用于支付商船和海军舰队、公共工程、艺术和教育的赞助。贸易中心以外的人看到他们的黄金和白银从他们的地区流出,让其他人变得富有,因为意大利商人和他们的阿拉伯贸易伙伴控制着来自远东的最昂贵奢侈品的流通。西班牙人、葡萄牙人、英国人和意大利人自己也开始考虑绕过中间人直接与中国进行贸易的方法。
The greatest effect of the plague on natural philosophy was indirect. The death of so many people meant that when the plague years passed, the land was vastly underpopulated. For those who survived, life held many more possibilities than it had before. The survivors inherited the property of the victims, and many people grew suddenly rich as they gained the inheritance not only of their immediate family but often of distant relatives as well. Good land was plentiful, but the people to work it were scarce, so peasants got better deals from landowners and could afford to buy more luxury items. It was also easier for peasants to leave the land and enter into trades and mercantile activities. Cities, countries, and the wealthier nobles often had to compete to attract artisans and even peasants to their regions. The booming economy made rich those people who could supply the demand for luxury items such as silk and fine cloth, spices, ivory, perfume, glassware, jewelry, and a huge list of manufactured items from footwear to armor to mechanical toys. In the leading centers of commerce, particularly the Italian city-states of Genoa and Venice, this new money paid for merchant and naval fleets, public works, an explosion in patronage of the arts, and education. The people outside the trade centers saw their gold and silver flowing out of their regions and making others rich, as Italian merchants and their Arabic trade partners controlled the flow of the most expensive luxury items that came from the Far East. The Spanish, Portuguese, English, and the Italians themselves began to consider ways to get around the middlemen and trade with China directly.
为了实现这一目标,欧洲人需要一系列工具:更好的航海天文学、改进的制图学和地理学、新的更好的仪器以及实现这些目标的更好的数学。新贸易计划的关键是能够航行大西洋的新船,因此需要更好的海军工程。但比起工具,他们更需要的是设计、建造、取出和使用工具的人。自然哲学是这一动力的关键组成部分,再加上约翰内斯·古腾堡巧妙的印刷机发明,欧洲拥有了知识、经济和文化活动爆发所需的所有要素。
To do that the Europeans needed a host of tools: better astronomy for navigation, improved cartography and geography, new and better instruments, and better mathematics to make these possible. Key to the new trade initiatives were new ships that could sail the Atlantic, so better naval engineering was required. But what they needed more than the tools were the people to devise them, build them, and take them out and use them. Natural philosophy was a key component to this drive, and, combined with Johannes Gutenberg’s nifty invention of the printing press, Europe had all the elements necessary for an explosion of intellectual, economic, and cultural activity.
自罗马帝国灭亡以来,欧洲统治者、教会领袖和知识分子一直努力创造一个稳定的等级社会。从知识分子的角度来看,他们首先创造了对希腊哲学的需求,并将其融入他们的教育和神学世界观。到 1300 年,欧洲发展缓慢,社会秩序井然、规范有序,而且有些内向。自然哲学主要由大学里一小群知识分子研究,而炼金术士、医生和工匠则致力于解决实际问题。对于大多数思想家来说,哲学知识和启示知识之间的界限已经确立。正如阿奎那所表明的那样,这两个知识体系并不冲突,因为它们涉及知识的专属领域,神学是高级研究,哲学则发挥有用但辅助的作用。换句话说,拉丁学者面临着与希腊人相同的问题,并确定了启示宗教的超自然世界与自然、理性理解的自然世界之间的分离。这种分离中固有的张力非常富有成效,使一些最优秀的思想家创造了令人印象深刻的经院哲学知识体系。同时,那些对将这些知识应用于实际目的感兴趣的人比学术经院哲学家生活在世俗中的时间更多。到 1450 年,他们的时代已经到来。欧洲社会在遭遇天启四骑士后受到了震动,但随后又出现了一种新的繁荣和自由的感觉。空气中弥漫着冒险的气息。
From the fall of Rome European rulers, Church leaders, and intellectuals had labored to create a stable, hierarchical society. In intellectual terms, they began by creating a need for Greek philosophy, integrating it into their educational and theological worldview. By 1300 Europe was growing slowly, and society was well ordered, carefully regulated, and somewhat inward-looking. Natural philosophy was studied by a small intellectual group primarily at the universities, while the alchemists, physicians, and artisans worked away at practical problems. For most thinkers, the demarcation had been established between philosophical and revealed knowledge. As Aquinas had shown, these two knowledge systems were not in conflict, since they dealt with exclusive areas of knowledge, with theology as the superior study and philosophy in a useful but supporting role. In other words, the Latin scholars had faced the same issue as the Greeks and had determined the separation between the supernatural world of revealed religion and the natural, rationally understood world of nature. The tension inherent in this separation was a very productive one, allowing some of the finest thinkers to create the impressive intellectual system of scholasticism. At the same time those interested in the application of this knowledge to practical ends lived more in the world than the academic scholastics. By 1450 their time had come. European society had been shaken by its encounters with the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, but in the aftermath a new sense of prosperity and freedom emerged. There was adventure in the air.
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1.阿尔伯图斯·马格努斯,《阿尔伯图斯·马格努斯的秘密之书》,迈克尔·R·贝斯特和弗兰克·H·布莱特曼编辑(牛津:牛津大学出版社,1973 年),第 33–4 页。
1. Albertus Magnus, The Book of Secrets of Albertus Magnus, ed. Michael R. Best and Frank H. Brightman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973), 33–4.
2.托马斯·阿奎那,《论存在与本质》 ,《中世纪哲学》,亚瑟·海曼和詹姆斯·J·沃尔什主编(印第安纳波利斯:哈克特,1984 年),第 508 页。
2. Thomas Aquinas, “On Being and Essence,” in Philosophy of the Middle Ages, ed. Arthur Hyman and James J. Walsh (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1984), 508.
3.这种一厢情愿的现代例子是庞斯和弗莱希曼试图创造冷聚变。见第 13 章。
3. A modern example of this sort of wishful thinking can be seen in the attempt by Pons and Fleishmann to create cold fusion. See Chapter 13.
4.Robert Grosseteste,《论彩虹》和《Robert Grosseteste 与西方光学的复兴》,《中世纪科学资料书》 ,David Lindberg 和 Edward Grant 编辑(波士顿:哈佛大学出版社,1974 年),第 388–9 页。
4. Robert Grosseteste, “On the Rainbow” and “Robert Grosseteste and the Revival of Optics in the West,” in A Source Book in Medieval Science, ed. David Lindberg and Edward Grant (Boston: Harvard University Press, 1974), 388–9.
5.奥卡姆的威廉,《逻辑大全(约 1324 年)》,《中世纪哲学:基督教、伊斯兰教和犹太教传统》第 3 版,亚瑟·海曼、詹姆斯·J·沃尔什和托马斯·威利恩斯编(印第安纳波利斯,哈克特,2010 年),第 624 页。
5. William of Ockham, “Summa totius logicae (c. 1324),” in Philosophy in the Middle Ages: The Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Traditions, 3rd ed., ed. Arthur Hyman, James J. Walsh, and Thomas Willions (Indianapolis, Hackett, 2010), 624.
6.博卡西奥,“引言”,《十日谈》(1351)第一天。
6. Boccassio, “Introduction,” Decameron (1351) Day 1.
7.芭芭拉·塔克曼(Barbara Tuchman),《遥远的镜子:灾难性的 14 世纪》(纽约:Alfred A. Knopf,1978 年)。
7. Barbara Tuchman, The Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978).
十五、十六世纪,欧洲的知识生活不断扩大。自然哲学家发现了新的文本、新的土地、新的解释和新的职业道路。欧洲文艺复兴,意为“重生”,始于对古典文本发现的重新兴趣。这种知识之旅伴随着更大的信心和冒险精神,导致人们与新发现的民族和地方接触。欧洲人发现他们生活在一个可能性不断扩大的世界。他们遇到了拥有自己知识的人,尤其是航海知识。知识分子首先回顾古人的辉煌遗产,他们很快就将古代知识作为获得新信息和新思想的垫脚石。与此同时,随着宗教改革的动荡,天主教会失去了其宣称的对真理的垄断,而大学学者则发现自己受到攻击,不再是哲学知识的唯一控制者。机会之窗被创造出来,特别是通过王室宫廷和商人大厅的赞助。因此,人们开始重视不同的东西。王子们不看重三段论逻辑和神学精妙,而是看重壮观场面、权力和财富。因此,注重实践(或自称注重实践)的自然哲学家受到重视。
The intellectual life of Europe expanded in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Natural philosophers found new texts, new lands, new interpretations, and new career paths. The European Renaissance, meaning “rebirth,” began with a renewed interest in the discovery of classical texts. This intellectual voyaging was matched by a greater confidence and spirit of adventure that led to contacts with newly discovered peoples and places. Europeans found that they were living in a world of expanding possibilities. They encountered people who had their own knowledge, particularly of navigation. While intellectuals first looked backward, to the glorious heritage of the ancients, they soon used ancient knowledge as a stepping stone to new information and ideas. At the same time the Catholic Church lost its professed monopoly on truth with the upheaval of the Reformation, while university scholastics found themselves under attack, no longer the sole controllers of philosophic knowledge. A window of opportunity was created, especially through patronage in the princely courts and merchant halls. Because of this, different things began to be valued. Rather than syllogistic logic and theological subtleties, princes wanted spectacle, power, and wealth. Therefore, natural philosophers who were practical (or claimed to be) were valued.
正如我们所见,欧洲人从未完全失去对希腊知识和自然哲学的接触。他们在中世纪曾深入研究过亚里士多德数个世纪以来,他的逻辑和更广泛的思想体系已成为学术和神学论述的基本要求。然而,希腊和罗马文献的大部分内容已经从人们的视野中消失了。尤其是柏拉图,欧洲知识分子对柏拉图知之甚少,其他许多文学和哲学作品也是如此。欧洲学者对这些伟大的古代思想家的重新发现和接触让他们大开眼界。负责这一重生的男男女女被称为人文主义者。
As we have seen, Europeans had never completely lost touch with Greek knowledge and natural philosophy. They had studied Aristotle intensively during the Middle Ages, to the point where his logic and larger intellectual system had become a foundational requirement for academic and theological discourse. However, there were large sections of the Greek and Roman corpus that had disappeared from view. Plato, especially, was largely unknown to European intellectuals, as were many other works of literature and philosophy. European scholars’ eyes were opened by the rediscovery of, and engagement with, these great ancient thinkers. The men and women responsible for this rebirth were called humanists.
从 14 世纪开始,意大利的一些学者开始向意大利城邦的富人和权贵子弟推销教师服务。他们教授人文文学,即studia humanitatis,并通过研究过去的伟大拉丁文作品来强调三学。彼特拉克 (1304-74)、列奥纳多·布鲁尼 (1444 年去世) 和瓜里诺·达·维罗纳 (Guarino Guarini) (1374-1460) 等学者从西塞罗和塞内加的精彩散文中学习如何成为好公民并过上美好的生活。由于这些教师改变了教育的场所和目的,男女都有机会接触新的知识,许多女性成为了著名的人文主义者。例如,伊索塔·诺加罗拉 (Isotta Nogarola,1418-66 年) 创作了《亚当与夏娃对话》,这是一场关于亚当和夏娃对他们被逐出伊甸园的责任更大的辩论(被视为早期女权主义讨论)。塞西莉亚·加莱拉尼 (Cecilia Gallerani,1473-1536 年) 是列奥纳多·达·芬奇的朋友,她可能举办了第一次“沙龙”或艺术家和知识分子会议。她因达·芬奇肖像中的“抱银鼠的女子”而闻名。所有这些人文主义者都坚信,好的言语和思想造就了明智的公民,他们努力寻找古代文本的纯净版本以获得这种智慧。
Beginning in the fourteenth century in Italy, scholars unaffiliated with the Church or the universities began to sell their services as teachers to the children of the rich and powerful in the Italian city-states. They taught humane letters, studia humanitatis, and stressed the trivium through the study of the great Latin writing of the past. Scholars such as Petrarch (1304–74), Leonardo Bruni (d. 1444), and Guarino da Verona (Guarino Guarini) (1374–1460) looked to the wonderful prose of Cicero and Seneca in order to understand how to be the good citizen and live the good life. Because these teachers changed the venue and purpose of education, both women and men had access to the new learning, and several women became well-known humanists. For example, Isotta Nogarola (1418–66) composed the “Dialogue on Adam and Eve,” a debate as to whether Adam or Eve was more responsible for their banishment from Eden (seen as an early feminist discussion). Cecilia Gallerani (1473–1536) was a friend of Leonardo da Vinci and may have held the first “salon” or meeting of artists and intellectuals. She became famous as the “Lady with an Ermine” in the portrait by da Vinci. All these humanists were convinced that good words and thoughts made wise citizens, and they worked hard to find pure versions of ancient texts in order to achieve that wisdom.
这种对古代智慧的重新发现,以及对今生过上美好生活的重新定位,而不是仅仅为了来世的救赎而努力,通常被称为文艺复兴。尽管今天的历史学家对这个词的使用进行了激烈的争论,但这一时期见证了知识和艺术活动的蓬勃发展,这种活动始于 14 世纪的意大利,并在接下来的 200 年里在欧洲其他地区效仿。虽然人文主义者强调基于语言的语法、修辞和逻辑研究,但这个不断变化的知识世界也影响了对自然的研究。出现了愿意并能够对自然哲学体系提出基本问题并开发新研究方法的学者。这些学者最初对希腊自然哲学的重新发现令人陶醉,但最终却几乎完全放弃了它。在这一时期,学者们自己经历了一场彻底的改变,他们越来越远离教会和神学作为基础和基础。研究自然的理由。雅典哲学作为一门独立的学科的理念也因此而重生,随着大学的大规模扩张和皇家法院的赞助,人们有了独立于神学和教会支持进行哲学研究的方法。自然哲学家仍然需要证明他们的事业的合理性,他们通过呼吁人们关注其公民和国家效用来做到这一点。
This rediscovery of ancient wisdom and a reorientation to living a good life in this world rather than only working to achieve salvation in the next is often labeled the Renaissance. Although historians today hotly debate the use of the term, the period witnessed a flowering of intellectual and artistic activity that started in Italy during the fourteenth century and was emulated in other parts of Europe over the next 200 years. While humanists stressed the language-based studies of grammar, rhetoric, and logic, this changing intellectual world affected the study of nature as well. Scholars appeared who were willing and able to ask fundamental questions about the system of natural philosophy and to develop new methods of study. What started for these scholars as an intoxicating rediscovery of Greek natural philosophy ended in an almost complete abandonment of it. Over the period the scholars themselves underwent a radical change as they increasingly moved away from the Church and from theology as the foundation and reason for the study of nature. In this there was also a rebirth of the Athenian ideal of philosophy as a study unto itself, and with the huge expansion of the universities and the patronage of the royal courts there was a way to pursue philosophy independent of theology and Church support. Natural philosophers were still called upon to justify their enterprise, something they did by calling attention to its civic and state utility.
尽管大多数人文主义者更关心的是理解《圣经》和西塞罗的原文,而不是预测行星的运行路径,但他们的事业为自然哲学注入了新的活力。人文主义通过三种方式实现了这一点:人文主义者重新发现并翻译了希腊原文中的古典科学资料;人文主义方法论以更怀疑的态度对待书面资料;人文主义为科学论述引入了新的目的和模式。
Although most humanists were more concerned with understanding the books of the Bible and Cicero in their original languages than in predicting the paths of planets, their enterprise helped infuse new life into natural philosophy. Humanism did this in three ways: humanists rediscovered and translated classical scientific sources from the original Greek; humanist methodology treated written sources in a more skeptical manner; and humanism introduced a new purpose for, and mode of, scientific discourse.
同样重要的是,人文主义复兴了亚里士多德主义,它重新发现了亚里士多德文本的早期希腊语版本(以前只有通过阿拉伯语翻译才知道),迫使经院哲学家们使他们的论证和方法更加严谨。因此,亚里士多德的体系并没有在人文主义的猛烈攻击下屈服;相反,它吸收了人文主义研究的许多方法论和严谨性,同时保留了其基本框架。亚里士多德体系作为一个研究项目被证明是极其富有成果的,因为它提供了对物理、天文学和生物学等物理世界以及使用形而上学、逻辑和政治的精神和社会世界的全面研究。直到 17 世纪建立起同样复杂的范式之前,亚里士多德主义仍然是有用和必要的。因此,整个 15 和 16 世纪的自然哲学史是亚里士多德主义的完善和胜利的历史,而不是它的失败的历史。
Equally important, humanism revived Aristotelianism, both by rediscovering early Greek versions of Aristotelian texts formerly known only through Arabic translations and by forcing scholastics to make their arguments and methodology more rigorous. As a result, Aristotle’s system did not give way before the humanist onslaught; rather, it incorporated much of the methodology and rigor of humanistic studies while retaining its basic framework. The Aristotelian system had proven extremely fruitful as a research program, since it provided an all-encompassing study of the physical world including physics, astronomy, and biology, and of the spiritual and social world using metaphysics, logic, and politics. Until an equally sophisticated paradigm could be established in the seventeenth century, Aristotelianism remained useful and necessary. Thus, the history of natural philosophy throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries is one of the refinement and triumph of Aristotelianism, rather than of its defeat.
在这一时期,有两个主要因素促成了希腊自然哲学的重新发现。第一个因素是 1453 年君士坦丁堡被土耳其人攻陷。在此之前,个别希腊手稿是从拜占庭交易来的,或在意大利的各个修道院中发现的。但随着古希腊学术的最后一个前哨的沦陷,数百本书籍被一并带到了意大利,其中一些书籍在城市被土耳其军队攻陷时被扔过城墙以防被入侵者夺走。希腊语知识现在成为学术工作的绝对必要条件。知识市场充斥着希腊文本,这与重新发现希腊自然哲学的第二个动力不谋而合。这是美第奇家族的赞助,他们对柏拉图的完整翻译很感兴趣。科西莫·德·美第奇是佛罗伦萨一个强大的银行家族的首领,他成为1439 年,科西莫对柏拉图的形而上学哲学产生了兴趣,到 1450 年代,他鼓励马尔西里奥·费奇诺 (1433-99) 等人文主义者翻译柏拉图的作品。科西莫成立了柏拉图学院,费奇诺担任院长,该学院在相对较短的时间内将柏拉图的许多重要作品翻译成拉丁文。这一重新发现,加上神秘和魔法论文的发现,例如所谓的赫尔墨斯·特里斯马吉斯图斯和犹太教的卡巴拉,有助于将文艺复兴时期的魔法发展为一门比中世纪实用魔法更为深奥的研究,如《秘密之书》中所述。
Two major factors contributed to the rediscovery of Greek natural philosophy in this period. The first was the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453. Before this date, individual Greek manuscripts were traded from Byzantium or were discovered in various Italian monasteries. But with the fall of the last outpost of ancient Greek scholarship, hundreds of books, some of them literally thrown over the walls to save them from the invaders as the city fell to the Turkish army, were brought all at once to Italy. Knowledge of Greek now became absolutely necessary for scholarly work. The flooding of the intellectual market with Greek texts coincided with the second impetus to the rediscovery of Greek natural philosophy. This was the patronage of the Medicis, who were interested in a full translation of Plato. Cosimo de’ Medici, head of a powerful Florentine banking family, became interested in the metaphysical philosophy of Plato in 1439 and by the 1450s encouraged humanists such as Marsilio Ficino (1433–99) to undertake translations of his work. Cosimo set up the Platonic Academy, with Ficino as its head, and in a relatively short time this group translated many of the important works of Plato into Latin. This rediscovery, combined with the discovery of mystical and magical treatises such as those of the supposed Hermes Trismagistus and the Jewish cabala helped to develop Renaissance magic as a much more esoteric study than its practical medieval counterpart, as seen in the Book of Secrets.
印刷机的发明使得希腊自然哲学的重新发现,以及随之而来的对自然研究兴趣的增长,成为一种欧洲现象,而不仅仅是意大利现象。1448 年,约翰内斯·古腾堡(约 1397-1468 年)发明了活字印刷术,从而彻底改变了通信方式。活字印刷术本身并不是一个革命性的想法,但它代表了许多现有技术的完美结合。使用雕版印刷的印刷术已经存在了 1000 多年,中国人从 1045 年左右开始使用。中国发明家毕昇(990-1051 年)创造了一种使用瓷器字符的活字印刷系统,但目前尚不清楚欧洲是否知道中国印刷术。到 15 世纪初,欧洲已开始使用雕版印刷术。尽管中国发明了大部分印刷部件,但该国出版印刷的发展却受到阻碍,一方面因为中国语言的象形文字性质(需要数千个字符),另一方面因为印刷对既有抄写员阶层的书写垄断构成威胁。相比之下,古腾堡只使用 24 个字母(“j”和“u”的使用尚未标准化),外加大写字母、标点符号和一些特殊符号,而当时欧洲的抄写员稀缺且昂贵。
What made the rediscovery of Greek natural philosophy, and with it the growth in interest in the study of nature, a European phenomenon, rather than just an Italian one, was the invention of the printing press. In 1448 Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1397–1468) introduced movable-type printing, thereby revolutionizing communication. Movable-type printing was not in itself a revolutionary idea, but it represented the perfection and combination of a number of existing technologies. Printing, using carved wooden blocks, had been around for over 1,000 years and was used by the Chinese from around 1045. The Chinese inventor Bi Sheng (990–1051) created a movable-type system using porcelain characters, but it is not clear if knowledge of Chinese printing was known in Europe. Block printing was in use in Europe by the beginning of the fifteenth century. Despite the invention of most of the components for printing in China, the development of printing for publication in that country was inhibited both by the pictographic nature of the language, which would have required thousands of characters, and by the threat it posed to the monopoly on writing of the established class of scribes. By contrast, Gutenberg worked with only 24 letters (the use of “j” and “u” had not been standardized), plus capitals, punctuation, and a few special symbols, at a time when scribes in Europe were scarce and expensive.
古腾堡将螺旋印刷机和纸张这两项亚洲发明结合起来,发明了活字印刷机。纸张发明于公元前 150 年左右,并于 1189 年在欧洲制造,为牛皮纸和羊皮纸提供了一种成本更低的替代品。古腾堡通过将每个字母刻在硬金属(钢)上,然后将其用作冲头,用较软的金属(铜)制作一组模具来创建印刷字符。然后,他可以用铅合金铸造出所需的字母。这些字母大小和形状统一,可以反复组装和打印,然后分开和重新组合。
Gutenberg combined two Asian inventions, the screw press and paper, to develop his movable-type printing press. Paper had been invented in China around 150 BCE and was manufactured in Europe by 1189, offering a less costly alternative to vellum and parchment. Gutenberg created typographic characters by scribing each individual letter into a hard metal (steel), then using these as a punch to make a set of molds out of a softer metal (copper). He could then cast as many letters as he needed out of a lead alloy. The letters were uniform in size and shape and could be assembled and printed, then separated and recombined repeatedly.
古腾堡的工作非常细致,因为他试图复制手稿的印刷术。对细节的关注和实际印刷的成本使他在 1450 年向美因茨的约翰·福斯特寻求资金支持。古腾堡的项目是《42 行圣经》(也称为古腾堡圣经或马萨林圣经)。然而,他的商人素质不如工程师,他的大部分设备都被福斯特拿去偿还债务,福斯特于 1455 年完成了印刷工作。大约印刷了 300 本圣经,每本售价 30 弗罗林,相当于一名职员三年的工资。
Gutenberg’s work was meticulous, since he was attempting to replicate the typography of the written manuscript. This attention to detail and the cost of creating the actual press led him to seek financial backing from Johann Fust of Mainz in 1450. Gutenberg’s project was the “42-line Bible” (also known as the Gutenberg Bible or the Mazarin Bible). He was not as good a businessman as he was an engineer, however, and lost much of his equipment to Fust to pay his debts, who completed the printing in 1455. About 300 copies of the Bible were printed and offered for sale at 30 florins each, which was equal to about three years’ wages for a clerk.
古腾堡的印刷机被许多人仿制,到 1500 年,欧洲有 1,000 多家印刷厂。(见图4.1。)圣经、宗教文本和赎罪券的需求量很大。赎罪券是可以从教会购买的用于赦免罪过的纸条,教会曾用它们来资助从十字军东征到建造大教堂的一切。借助印刷机,可以印刷大量的赎罪券,有时一次印刷量就多达 200,000 份。随着从希腊和罗马文学到医学文本等各种书籍的出现,对其他类型书籍的需求也激增。人文主义者对拉丁文学和希腊文学的兴趣首先为印刷商提供了材料,也创造了对这种古典材料的需求。
Gutenberg’s press was copied by many others, and by 1500 there were more than 1,000 printers working in Europe. (See figure 4.1.) Bibles, religious texts, and indulgences were in high demand. Indulgences were slips of paper that could be purchased from the Church for the remission of sins, and they had been used by the Church to finance everything from the Crusades to building cathedrals. With the aid of the printing press huge numbers of indulgences could be produced, sometimes as many as 200,000 in a single print run. The demand for other kinds of books also exploded as everything from Greek and Roman literature to medical texts became available. The humanist interest in first Latin and then Greek literature supplied materials for the printers and also created a demand for this classical material.
4.1印刷术在欧洲的传播
4.1 THE SPREAD OF PRINTING IN EUROPE
1452 年至 1500 年之间的印刷中心。
The centers of printing between 1452 and 1500.
印刷术的影响是巨大的。现在,从未见过任何手稿的人们也可以买到书了。印刷术使信息更加广泛地传播,巨大的资料库向越来越多的读者开放。随着书籍价格的下降,越来越多的人买得起书,阅读习惯也随着识字率的提高而改变。随着页码的引入(使读者熟悉阿拉伯数字),目录和索引成为可能。这意味着读者不必从头到尾阅读一本书,只要读者认为相关的信息就可以翻阅。由于人们现在可能拥有多卷书,他们可以将一种文本与其他文本进行比较,这在抄写时代是不可能的。
The effect of printing was enormous. Books were now available to people who had never seen a manuscript of any kind. Printing made information far more widely available, and a huge storehouse of material was opened to a growing audience. As the cost of books declined, more people could afford to own them, and reading habits changed as literacy spread. With the introduction of page numbers (which familiarized readers with Arabic numerals), tables of contents and indexes became possible. This meant that a book did not have to be read from cover to cover but could be dipped into just for information the reader thought was pertinent. Since people could now potentially own many volumes, they could compare one text with others, an impossibility in a scribal age.
媒体学者马歇尔·麦克卢汉等人认为,大众印刷技术的引入最终改变了西方社会的心理。从无文字社会到有文字社会的转变改变了时间和空间感,将真理的场所从人类记忆转移到书面记录,降低了记忆力,促进了异议和更广泛的世界观,并在一定程度上促成了专业化概念的发展和“专家”的诞生。
The media scholar Marshall McLuhan and others have argued that the introduction of mass printing technology ultimately changed the very psychology of Western society. The change from a nonliterate to a literate society changed the sense of time and space, shifted the locale of truth from human memory to written records, degraded memory, promoted dissent and a wider worldview, and was partly responsible for the development of the concept of professionalization and the creation of the “expert.”
在自然哲学领域,印刷术的引入也改变了话语。印刷术有助于建立希腊和其他自然哲学文本的权威和校正版本,因为可以比较几份手稿来确定最权威的版本。这可以防止抄写员的偏差,或拼写错误等简单错误的累积,这些错误会随着重复复制而变得更加严重。它还允许插入插图、图表和地图,这些内容很容易出现抄写员的错误,因此通常会从手稿中省略或无用。这意味着学者可以专注于寻找新知识,而不是不断纠正旧知识。由于读者可以以相对便宜的价格购买和借阅大量书籍,而不必亲自前往保存原始手稿的修道院,因此可以搜索文献,也可以比较不同版本,尤其是星图或植物插图和描述。新信息也可以迅速传播。例如,克里斯托弗·哥伦布于 1820 年航行的消息1492 年他返回西班牙后立即印刷了这本书,并在一年内从西班牙语翻译成了德语、意大利语和拉丁语,而马可波罗十三世纪访问中国的事情直到十五世纪才为少数人所知。最后,印刷术为自然哲学家提供了纸质计算设备、一个公开的思想论坛和一个可以与志趣相投、才华横溢的人交流的文学共和国。
In the realm of natural philosophy the introduction of print changed the discourse as well. Printing helped establish the definitive and corrected version of Greek and other natural philosophy texts, since several manuscripts could be compared for the most authoritative version. This prevented scribal drift, or the compounding of simple errors such as spelling mistakes that grew worse with repeated copying. It also allowed the insertion of illustrations, charts, and maps, items that had been so prone to scribal errors that they had usually been omitted from manuscripts or were useless. This meant that scholars could concentrate on finding new knowledge rather than constantly correcting the old. Because readers could purchase and borrow numerous books at relatively cheap prices and without personally going to monasteries housing the original manuscripts, a search of the literature was possible, as were comparisons of alternative versions, especially of star charts or botanical illustrations and descriptions. New information could also be disseminated rapidly. For example, news of Christopher Columbus’s voyage in 1492 was printed immediately on his return to Spain and translated from Spanish into German, Italian, and Latin within the year, while knowledge of Marco Polo’s thirteenth-century visit to China was known only to a select few, even into the fifteenth century. Finally, printing provided natural philosophers with paper calculational devices, a public forum for their ideas, and a republic of letters within which to converse with people of similar interests and aptitudes.
尼古拉斯·哥白尼 (1473-1543 年) 可能是受人文主义思想影响最著名的自然哲学家,印刷机改变了他的研究和传播方式。哥白尼出生于皇家普鲁士的托伦(当时是波兰的一部分,现在属于波兰),1 这里是一个相对孤立的知识前哨。他以学生的身份前往意大利,在那里学习人文主义技巧并查阅原始手稿。他在那里发现的最重要的文献是托勒密《天文学大成》的完整副本,这是当时天文学最重要的来源。15 世纪 80 年代,整个皇家普鲁士都没有《天文学大成》的完整手稿。到 1543 年他去世时,托勒密的书已经有三种不同的印刷版本,哥白尼和其他天文学家可以比较天文表,发现古代观测之间的差异,并建立新的模型。哥白尼还有一本印刷版的欧几里得《几何原本》图表版(威尼斯,1482 年)和约翰尼斯·雷吉奥蒙塔努斯(1436-76 年)印刷的清单,后者曾印刷过托勒密《天文学大成》的初版,列出了所有重要的古代科学著作,这份清单成为 16 世纪天文学家和数学家的必读书目。在意大利,哥白尼还遇到了源自阿拉伯语的手稿。历史学家现已表明,哥白尼的思想很大程度上归功于这些伊斯兰天文学家,他的新行星模型是跨文化对话的一部分,而非某一位思想家的成果。哥白尼并不关心他的概念来自哪里,而是乐于尝试多种策略来看看哪种可行。
Probably the most famous natural philosopher influenced by humanist ideas, for whom the printing press transformed his research and dissemination, was Nicholas Copernicus (1473–1543). Copernicus was born in Torun, Royal Prussia (then and now part of Poland),1 a relatively isolated intellectual outpost. He traveled as a student to Italy, where he learned humanistic techniques and consulted original manuscripts. The most significant documents he found there were complete copies of Ptolemy’s Almagest, the single most important source for astronomy at the time. No complete manuscript of the Almagest was available in all of Royal Prussia in the 1480s. By the time of his death in 1543 there were three different editions of Ptolemy’s book in print, allowing Copernicus and other astronomers to compare astronomical tables, discover the discrepancies between ancient observations, and establish a new model. Copernicus also had a printed version with diagrams of Euclid’s Elements (Venice, 1482) and a list printed by Johannes Regiomontanus (1436–76), who had printed the first edition of Ptolemy’s Almagest, of all the important scientific works from antiquity, which became the required reading list for sixteenth-century astronomers and mathematicians. In Italy, Copernicus also encountered manuscripts that originated in Arabic sources. Historians have now shown that Copernicus’s ideas owed much to these Islamic astronomers, and that his new planetary model was a part of a conversation across cultures, rather than a result of one solitary thinker. Copernicus did not care where his concepts came from but was happy to try a number of strategies to see what would work.
当哥白尼研究托勒密的天文学并将其与中世纪的星体和行星图进行比较时,他发现了严重的问题。不仅预测的天体位置不同,而且哥白尼认为托勒密违反了他的哥白尼坚持认为天体有完美的圆周运动。作为一项数学练习,哥白尼决定颠倒天体的排列,将太阳置于中心,包括地球在内的所有行星都围绕太阳旋转。在这个方案中,太阳保持在中心静止不动,地球现在有昼夜运动,以解释昼夜,以及围绕太阳的年度轨道。(见图4.2。)除此之外,哥白尼还增加了地球自转轴的第三个运动,以解释季节和黄道带的年度倾斜。
When Copernicus studied Ptolemy’s astronomy and compared it to medieval star and planet charts, he saw serious problems. Not only did the predicted locations of the celestial bodies differ, but Copernicus believed that Ptolemy had violated his own insistence on perfect circular motion in the heavens. Copernicus decided, as a mathematical exercise, to reverse the heavenly arrangement and place the Sun at the center with all the planets, including the Earth, revolving around it. In this schema, the Sun remained stationary in the center and the Earth now had a diurnal (daily) motion in order to account for night and day, as well as an annual orbit around the Sun. (See figure 4.2.) To this, Copernicus added a third motion of the axis of the Earth’s rotation that accounted for the seasons and the annual inclination of the zodiac.
4.2来自DE REVOLUTIONIBUS (1543) 的哥白尼太阳系
4.2 THE COPERNICAN SOLAR SYSTEM FROM DE REVOLUTIONIBUS (1543)
哥白尼体系在数学上与托勒密体系一样复杂,但它确实解释了一段时间以来困扰天文学家的许多异常现象。例如,托勒密体系无法很好地解释为什么水星和金星与太阳的距离从未超过 45°。哥白尼体系通过将内行星置于地球和太阳之间解决了这个问题。此外,日心说模型解决了逆行运动的主要问题,这导致托勒密设计了本轮。
Copernicus’s system was just as complicated mathematically as the Ptolemaic system had been, but it did explain a number of anomalies that had been worrying astronomers for some time. For example, there was no good explanation in the Ptolemaic system for why Mercury and Venus never appear more than 45° away from the Sun. Copernicus’s system solved this issue by placing the inner planets between the Earth and the Sun. In addition, the heliocentric model resolved the major issue of retrograde motion, which had led Ptolemy to devise the epicycle.
此外,哥白尼的体系在美学上令人愉悦,并消除了整个宇宙的周日运动。然而,它并非没有问题。例如,在这个新体系中,金星和水星应该有像月球一样的相位,但从未观察到过。更令人担忧的是,尽管哥白尼的体系要求地球在天空中移动,但恒星似乎并没有移动。当时的天文学家认为,如果地球绕太阳公转,恒星离地球足够近,以至于观察它们的角度会发生变化。这被称为视差,直到 1838 年才被发现。由于恒星距离遥远,直到强大的望远镜出现后才可以测量。
Moreover, Copernicus’s system was aesthetically pleasing and eliminated the diurnal motion of the whole universe. It was not without its own problems, however. For example, Venus and Mercury should have phases like the Moon in this new schema, but these had never been observed. More worrying, the stars did not appear to move, even though Copernicus’s schema called for the Earth to move across the skies. The astronomers of the day assumed that the stars were close enough to the Earth that the angle they were viewed at would change if the Earth was orbiting the Sun. This is called parallax and was not seen until 1838. Given the vast distance to the stars, it was not measurable until the development of powerful telescopes.
如果地球真的像哥白尼所说的那样以三重运动运动,那么其他更具有地球性质的问题可能会被提出。为什么鸟儿为什么向东飞?球为什么垂直落下?为什么我们感觉不到地球在运动?当时没有测试能够证明地球的运动,这一缺陷困扰了天文学家好几代人。
If the Earth was actually moving with a triple motion as Copernicus suggested, other questions of a more terrestrial nature might be asked. Why could birds fly east? Why did balls fall straight down? Why couldn’t we feel the Earth moving? There existed no test that could demonstrate the motion of the Earth, and this flaw plagued astronomy for several generations.
最重要的是,哥白尼的体系违背了亚里士多德对宇宙的整个秩序。没有了地球的中心,亚里士多德的“自然运动”物理学就土崩瓦解了。天主教神学既依赖于亚里士多德的解释,也依赖于地球的中心地位,因为地球是宇宙中最不完美的部分,因此既是罪恶和违法的场所,也是救赎的焦点。如果地球只是众多行星中的一个,难道就没有其他的基督和其他的救赎吗?正是因为这样的推测,焦尔丹诺·布鲁诺(1548-1600)于 1600 年被烧死在火刑柱上。因此,哥白尼,一位教士,因此也是一位官员,并不奇怪哥白尼信仰天主教,直到临终前才开始出版他的思想。1543年,在朋友,尤其是格奥尔格·约阿希姆·雷提库斯( Georg Joachim Rheticus, 1514–74) 的劝说下,他才勉强同意出版《天体运行论》。雷提库斯一直负责哥白尼著作的出版,直到他被迫离开纽伦堡。安德烈亚斯·奥西安德 (Andreas Osiander, 1498–1552) 接手并添加了未经授权的序言,声称整件事只是个假设。不管是不是假设,《天体运行论》的印刷让整个欧洲科学界了解了哥白尼的思想,一个世纪的争论开始了。
Above all, Copernicus’s system violated the whole Aristotelian ordering of the universe. Without the Earth in the center, Aristotle’s physics of “natural motion” fell apart. Catholic theology had come to depend both on Aristotelian explanation and, especially, on the centrality of the Earth as the least perfect part of the universe and therefore at the same time both the site of sin and transgression and the focal point for salvation. If the Earth was just one of many planets, could there not be other Christs and other salvations? For just such speculations, Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) was burned at the stake in 1600. Therefore, it is not surprising that Copernicus, a canon and thus an officer of the Church, delayed publishing his ideas until he was on his deathbed. He agreed, reluctantly, to the publication of De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) in 1543, through the persuasion of his friends, especially Georg Joachim Rheticus (1514–74). Rheticus was overseeing the publication of Copernicus’s work until he was forced to leave Nuremberg. Andreas Osiander (1498–1552) took over and added an unauthorized preface claiming the whole thing was only a hypothesis. Hypothesis or no, the printing of De Revolutionibus allowed the whole European scientific community to learn of Copernicus’s ideas, and a century of controversy began.
阅读哥白尼著作的学者分为两类:对宇宙学感兴趣的哲学家和想使用计算而不担心模型的数学家。许多哲学家/天文学家希望对模型进行修改,以使其更能被教会接受。第谷·布拉赫(1546-1601)可能是其中最杰出的一位。第谷是丹麦贵族,他没有像他这个社会地位的人那样担任国王的军事指挥官,而是将他英勇的天文学工作作为封建应得物。他深受人文主义者对古代自然哲学的重新发现和印刷机技术的启发。第谷比哥白尼更善于比较印刷表格。他确实是一位自学成才的天文学家,最初从印刷书籍中学习他的手艺。他也是欧洲最好的肉眼观察者。他建造了一个巨大的天文台和有史以来最大的前望远镜天文仪器。(见图4.3。)
Scholars who read Copernicus’s work fell into two categories: philosophers who were interested in the overarching cosmology and mathematicians who wanted to use the calculations without worrying about the model. Many philosopher/astronomers wished to tinker with the model in order to make one more acceptable to the Church. Tycho Brahe (1546–1601) was probably the most prominent of these. Tycho was a Danish nobleman who, rather than serving as a military commander to his king, as was typical of someone in his social position, offered his heroic astronomical work as his feudal dues instead. He was deeply indebted both to the humanist rediscovery of ancient natural philosophy and to the technology of the printing press. Even more than Copernicus, Tycho was able to compare printed tables. He was, indeed, a self-taught astronomer, learning his craft initially from printed books. He was also the best naked-eye observer in Europe. He built a huge observatory and the largest pre-telescopic astronomical instruments ever seen. (See figure 4.3.)
4.3第谷·布拉赫的观测设备
4.3 TYCHO BRAHE’S OBSERVATIONAL EQUIPMENT
第谷设计了一个行星系统,通常称为第谷系统,它介于托勒密和哥白尼设计的行星系统之间。在这个系统中,太阳和月亮围绕地球旋转,而其他一切都围绕太阳旋转。这拯救了地球作为宇宙中心和上帝恩典的地位,同时也解释了水星和金星的问题。(见图4.4。)
Tycho devised a planetary system, often called the Tychonic system, that was halfway between those devised by Ptolemy and Copernicus. In this system, the Sun and Moon revolved around the Earth, while everything else revolved around the Sun. This saved the Earth as the center of the universe and of God’s grace while also explaining the problems of Mercury and Venus. (See figure 4.4.)
4.4第谷体系
4.4 TYCHONIC SYSTEM
借助令人印象深刻的天文设备,第谷还发现了 16 世纪一些最重要的彗星和新星。例如,他观测了 1577 年的彗星,并发现其轨道穿过了其他行星的轨道。这是一项重大发现,因为它迫使人们思考亚里士多德宇宙学中固体透明球体的物理现实。这些彗星从何而来?它们怎么会不完美(短暂),却又位于月球轨道之上?第谷和其他人证明了它们的轨道位于月球轨道之上,从而推翻了传统的宇宙物理解释。但第谷没有提出其他物理学理论,这可能有助于解释天文学家和自然哲学家不愿放弃亚里士多德理论的原因。
Using his impressive astronomical equipment Tycho also made some of the most important comet and new star sightings of the sixteenth century. He observed the comet of 1577, for example, and showed that its path sliced through the orbits of other planets. This was a major discovery, since it forced people to think about the physical reality of the solid transparent spheres of Aristotelian cosmology. Where did these comets come from? How could they be imperfect (transitory) and yet supralunar (above the orbit of the Moon)? Tycho and others proved that their paths were supralunar and thus discredited the traditional physical explanations of the universe. But Tycho had no alternative physics to propose, which may help to explain the reluctance of astronomers and natural philosophers to abandon Aristotle.
第谷的另一个发现是发现了几颗新星——这些新星在天空中出现并持续存在,而这些新星以前从未出现过。这再次反驳了天空的不变性,而且由于第谷的观察结果非常好,这些新星不容忽视。事实上,1572 年新星的发现与早期的超新星完全不同,因为许多人跟随第谷的脚步,同时观察到了这一现象,并在一年内向学术界报告。这是首次以社区共识而非学术权威作为确立科学“事实”的基础。科学事实的形成日益成为一项公共事业。
Another of Tycho’s discoveries was the sighting of several new stars – stars appearing and continuing in the skies where none had been before. Again, this made a case against the unchangeability of the heavens, and, because Tycho’s observations were so good, the new stars could not be ignored. The sighting of the new star of 1572 was, in fact, a completely different event than earlier supernovas, since many people, following Tycho’s lead, were able to observe the phenomenon simultaneously and report within the year to the academic community. This was one of the first instances of community agreement rather than scholarly authority as the basis for establishing a scientific “fact.” The making of scientific facts increasingly became a public enterprise.
一些历史学家认为哥白尼的工作是科学革命的开端,或者至少是天文学界的哥白尼革命。如果革命指的是从旧模式到新模式的快速转变,那么这种转变基本上没有发生。尽管哥白尼对宇宙进行了彻底的重新排序,第谷也做出了令人印象深刻的观察,但人们还是不愿意放弃托勒密体系而接受哥白尼主义。直到开普勒和牛顿修改了日心说,哥白尼才被完全接受,直到 17 世纪后期,它才成为普遍接受的模型。在 16 世纪,数学天文学家研究技术方面,哲学家研究描述方面。尽管如此,许多天文学家看到了至少考虑这个新框架的好处,并且逐渐地——在不同的时间和不同的地方——太阳被赋予了宇宙中心的位置。天文学家从一个系统转移到另一个系统的原因很复杂。例如,历史学家托马斯·库恩认为,有些人认为哥白尼体系在审美上令人愉悦。少数孤立的思想家,如英国人托马斯·迪格斯(1546-95 年)和德国人迈克尔·梅斯特林(1550-1631 年),接受了哥白尼宇宙学,而其他一些团体,比如维滕贝格的紧密学术团体,早在 16 世纪 50 年代就采用了混合体系。我们将会看到,伽利略对哥白尼学说的拥护与赞助有很大关系,尽管伽利略也受到美学的影响,并致力于使天文学和物理学协调一致。
Some historians have pointed to Copernicus’s work as the beginning of the scientific revolution or at least a Copernican revolution in astronomy. If by revolution we mean a rapid shift from an old to a new model, it largely did not happen. Despite Copernicus’s radical reordering of the universe and Tycho’s impressive observations, people were reluctant to abandon the Ptolemaic system and embrace Copernicanism. It was never fully accepted until the heliocentric schema was modified by Kepler and Newton, and only in the late seventeenth century did it become the generally accepted model. During the sixteenth century mathematical astronomers took up the technical aspects, philosophers the descriptive. Still, a number of astronomers saw the benefit of at least considering this new framework, and gradually – at different times in different places – the Sun was accorded its place in the center of the universe. Astronomers’ reasons for moving from one system to the other were complex. The historian Thomas Kuhn argued, for example, that some people found the Copernican system aesthetically pleasing. A few isolated thinkers such as Englishman Thomas Digges (1546–95) and German Michael Mästlin (1550–1631) accepted Copernican cosmology, while others, such as the close-knit scholarly community at Wittenberg, adopted a hybrid system very early in the 1550s. Galileo’s championing of Copernicanism had much to do with patronage, as we shall see, although Galileo was also influenced by aesthetics and concerns with bringing astronomy and physics into accord.
关于天空正确模型的争论不仅仅是学术争论。全欧洲的统治者和企业家都迫切需要了解和预测天空的运动,因为他们对贸易和发现的长途海上航行越来越感兴趣。从十字军东征开始,欧洲人就对通过与中东和亚洲的贸易获得的异国商品感兴趣。到 15 世纪,这种贸易完全被土耳其帝国控制,特别是在君士坦丁堡沦陷之后,因此富有进取心的欧洲国家决定绕过博斯普鲁斯海峡的瓶颈,绕过中间人。葡萄牙人开始沿着非洲海岸航行,尽管托勒密著名的地图上描绘的印度海是封闭的,但他们发现,尽管他们仍然必须经过伊斯兰人控制的水域,但他们可以通过好望角到达东方。
The debate about the correct model of the heavens was not just a scholarly squabble. All over Europe rulers and entrepreneurs had an urgent need to understand and predict the motions of the skies, since increasingly they were interested in long sea voyages of trade and discovery. From the Crusades on, Europeans had been interested in the exotic goods available through trade with the Middle East and Asia. By the fifteenth century this trade was completely controlled by the Turkish Empire, especially after the fall of Constantinople, and so enterprising European nations decided to circumvent the bottleneck of the Bosphorus and go around the middlemen. The Portuguese began by coasting down Africa and found, despite the closed Indian Sea depicted in Ptolemy’s famous maps, that they could reach the East via the Cape of Good Hope, although they still had to pass through waters controlled by Islamic people.
在葡萄牙人开始他们的探险和贸易计划之前,伊斯兰商人已经在印度洋广泛航行多年。至少从十二世纪开始,阿拉伯商人就在非洲和印度海岸之间来回穿梭,进行贸易、建立前哨站并与印度人民互动。葡萄牙人对航行感兴趣的原因很复杂,包括好奇心和帝国扩张,但最主要的是出于商业考虑。他们非常有兴趣与阿拉伯商人合作,以开辟通往东方的新路线。葡萄牙人乐于使用他们发现的任何信息,并经常从该地区的其他旅行者那里借用技术、地图和事实。例如,他们的印度洋地图利用了阿拉伯商人的知识,他们是该水域数百年的老手。当欧洲人出版这些地图时,他们抹去了穆斯林资料,留下了欧洲英雄冒险的故事。
Islamic traders had been sailing extensively in the Indian Ocean for many years before the Portuguese started their project of exploration and trade. Arabic traders moved between the coasts of Africa and India from at least the twelfth century, trading, establishing outposts, and interacting with the Indian population. The Portuguese were interested in voyaging for a complex mixture of reasons, including curiosity and imperial expansion, but most especially commercial concerns. They were very interested in working with Arabic traders in order to develop new routes to the East. The Portuguese were happy to use any information they found and often appropriated the techniques, maps, and matters of fact from other travelers in the region. Their maps of the Indian Ocean, for example, made use of the knowledge of Arabic traders, veterans of those waters for several hundred years. When Europeans published these maps, they erased the Muslim sources, leaving behind a tale of heroic European adventure.
在欧洲人开启“大航海时代”之前,中国人就已经掌握了进行重大远洋航行所需的航海和测绘技能。其中最著名的是太监郑和下西洋(1371-1433/35)。郑和出生于云南回族穆斯林家庭。云南沦陷后,郑和被捕并被阉割。永乐皇帝时期,郑和成为朝廷中一位有权有势的成员,他曾七次下西洋,郑和担任总司令。这些航行中,数百艘船只和数万名士兵乘船,穿越印度洋,直抵非洲之角和阿拉伯半岛。(然而,郑和真正环游世界的说法毫无根据。)郑和从 1405 年航行到 1433 年(尽管他可能在最后一次航行中去世),给与他联系的领导人带去礼物,并带回贡品给皇帝。最著名的是他在 1413-15 年第三次下西洋时从非洲带回的长颈鹿。郑和的成就令人瞩目,但值得注意的是,他所走的是早已确立且地图清晰的路线,其中一些路线可追溯至汉朝。例如,当他的船队于 1407 年抵达马六甲时,那里已经有一个相当大的华人社区。
The Chinese had also developed the necessary navigational and mapping skills to undertake significant oceanic voyages, long before the Europeans started their “age of exploration.” Most famous are the voyages of the imperial eunuch Zheng He (1371–1433/35). Zheng He was born into a Muslim family of the Hui people in Yunnan. When Yunnan fell to the emperor’s forces, Zheng He was captured and castrated. He became a powerful member of the imperial court under the Yongle emperor, who sponsored seven naval expeditions, with Zheng He as the admiral. These voyages, with hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of troops on board, sailed all through the Indian Ocean to the Horn of Africa and Arabia. (The theory that Zheng He actually sailed around the world is without foundation, however.) Zheng He sailed from 1405 to 1433 (although he may have died on the final voyage), bringing gifts to the leaders he contacted and returning with tributes to the emperor. Most famous was the giraffe he brought back from Africa during his third voyage of 1413–15. Zheng He’s achievement was considerable, but it is important to note that he followed long-established and well-mapped routes, some dating to the Han dynasty. For example, when his fleet arrived in Malacca in 1407, there was a sizable Chinese community already established there.
历史学家一直在争论为什么中国人在郑和之后没有继续进行这项探险计划。显然,永乐皇帝的去世是一个关键因素,因为他的继任者立即停止了航行,因为他认为航行既昂贵又没有必要。这似乎也可能是一个政治问题,因为郑和的成就代表了宦官对那些对这些航行不太感兴趣的学者/官僚的权力。中国人开始更多地关注国内问题,对与外部世界的接触不太感兴趣,尽管他们继续沿着丝绸之路进行贸易,并与中国海域的其他民族互动。
Historians have debated why the Chinese did not continue with this program of exploration after Zheng He. It is clear that the death of the Yongle emperor was a key factor, since his successor immediately stopped the voyages, which he saw as expensive and unnecessary. It also seems likely that this was a political issue, since Zheng He’s achievements represented the power of the eunuchs over the scholar/bureaucrats who were less interested in these voyages. The Chinese began to concentrate more on domestic issues and were less interested in contact with the wider world, although they continued to trade along the Silk Road and interact with other peoples in the China Sea.
其他可能拥有远航技术能力的民族是美洲人。雅各布·布罗诺夫斯基认为,“新世界”之所以没有到达旧世界,是因为它缺乏将天体视为轮子的感觉——玛雅人或其他南美文明很少使用这种发明。虽然这可能导致缺乏探索,但有两个更简单的原因限制了玛雅人的科学活动。首先是地方战争和干旱和环境恶化导致的农业歉收造成的一系列崩溃。玛雅人的社会结构无法很好地适应这些挑战,使情况变得更糟。他们没有时间或和平时期来发展自然哲学,他们从未将对自然的研究与宗教活动分开。第二个问题是技术问题。玛雅人有伟大的数学家和工程师,但他们没有掌握许多技术,尤其是高温冶炼或玻璃制造,只能使用新石器时代的工具。
Others who might have had the technical ability to sail long distances were the peoples of the Americas. Jacob Bronowski argued that the “new world” did not travel out to the old world because it lacked a sense of the heavens as a wheel – an invention little used by the Maya or other South American civilizations. While this may have contributed to a lack of exploration, two simpler reasons restricted Mayan scientific activity. The first was a series of collapses caused by endemic warfare and agricultural failure because of drought and environmental degradation. Mayan social structure did not adapt well to the challenges, making the situation worse. They did not have the time or periods of peace to develop natural philosophy, and they never separated the study of nature from their religious practices. The second problem was technological. The Maya had great mathematicians and engineers, but they did not master a number of technologies, especially high temperature smelting or glass-making, leaving them with Neolithic tools.
虽然这个新的“大航海时代”对中国人或玛雅人的世界观影响不大,但这是欧洲人意识发展的关键时期。尽管中国人航行得更远,许多渔民几个世纪以来一直在横渡大西洋,但瓦斯科·达·伽马(约 1469-1524 年)和克里斯托弗·哥伦布(1451-1506 年)以及后来者的成就从根本上改变了欧洲人对地球及其与地球关系的理解。这些早期的探险家怀着基督教和帝国主义的信仰,相信他们的事业是正义的,他们的理解是优越的,他们挑战了古人的权威,尤其是托勒密。托勒密的《地理志》直到 1406 年才被人文主义者重新发现,提供了另一种可以利用和挑战的地球观。与其他自然哲学努力一样,人文主义的重新发现引发了对古代地球知识的延伸,并最终被驳斥。哥伦布及其后继者向欧洲人证明了古人完全不知道(但当地居民却很熟悉)的大陆的存在。对于自然哲学而言,更重要的是,这些探险家推翻了许多古代和中世纪关于地球的理论,尤其是他们证明了地球上的陆地面积比人们此前认为的要大得多,航行穿越赤道地区是可能的,而且不会被烧毁,人们可以而且确实生活在赤道以南的对跖点。哥伦布并没有证明地球是圆的——这一点自古以来就已被学者们所熟知——但他证明了地球是可以航行的,而且最终可以被欧洲人开发利用。
While this new “age of exploration” had little influence on the Chinese or Mayan worldview, this was a critical period in the development of European consciousness. Although the Chinese had sailed farther and many fisher folk had been traversing the Atlantic Ocean for centuries, the achievements of Vasco da Gama (c. 1469–1524) and Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), as well as those who followed, fundamentally changed the way Europeans understood the Earth and their relationship to it. These early explorers, equipped with a Christian and imperial belief in the righteousness of their cause and the superiority of their understanding, challenged the authority of the ancients, especially Ptolemy. Ptolemy’s Geographia had only been rediscovered by humanists in 1406, providing another view of the globe that could be used and challenged. As with other natural philosophical endeavors, then, humanist rediscovery sparked an extension and eventually refutation of ancient knowledge of the globe. Columbus and those who came after demonstrated to Europeans the existence of a continent completely unknown to the ancients (though familiar to its inhabitants). More importantly for natural philosophy these explorers disproved a number of ancient and medieval theories of the Earth, most particularly by demonstrating that the globe had a much larger proportion of dry land than had hitherto been suspected, that it was possible to sail through the equatorial regions without burning up, and that people could and did live south of that equatorial region in the lands known as the antipodes. Columbus did not prove the world was round – this had been known by learned men since antiquity – but he did prove that the globe was navigable and, ultimately, exploitable by Europeans.
这些航行的主要动机是积累巨额财富,无论是个人还是赞助这些事业的国家。起初,目的地是远东——契丹和香料群岛。葡萄牙人最成功地到达了这些地区,在果阿(印度)、马六甲(马来西亚)和摩鹿加群岛(香料群岛)建立了重要的贸易站。西班牙人误打误撞地到达了美洲,很快就改变了他们的使命,尽管他们继续寻找黄金,尤其是白银,但征服者开始专注于殖民,认为当地人是有用的奴隶,可以很容易地皈依基督教。后来,随着糖和棉花的种植对西班牙人来说变得越来越重要,非洲奴隶贸易被引入了这种经济安排。然而,将这些帝国和商业企业与对地球日益增长的兴趣和研究分开将是一个错误。对自然的研究与宗教密不可分和商业活动。这个探索时代的“发现”促进了制图和航海的新创新,改变了人们对水陆地球的认识,引发了人们对气候对人类影响的兴趣,并发起了有关新世界人民的民族志调查和辩论。
The prime motivating factor for these voyages was amassing great wealth, both for the individual and for the country sponsoring the enterprises. At first, the destination was the Far East – Cathay and the Spice Islands. The Portuguese were most successful at reaching these areas, setting up key trading depots in Goa (India), Malacca (Malaysia), and the Moluccas (Spice Islands). The Spanish, having reached the Americas by mistake, soon modified their mission, and although they continued to seek gold and especially silver, the conquistadors began to focus on colonization, seeing the natives as a useful slave population and one that could be converted easily to Christianity. Later, as the cultivation of sugar and cotton became more important to the Spanish, the African slave trade was introduced into this economic arrangement. And yet it would be a mistake to separate these imperial and mercantile enterprises from the growing interest in and study of the Earth. The study of nature was inexorably linked with religious and mercantile concerns. The “discoveries” of this age of exploration encouraged new innovations in cartography and navigation, led to a changing understanding of the terraqueous globe, spawned an interest in the effect of climates on human beings, and launched ethnographic investigations and debates concerning the New World peoples.
16 世纪,人们对世界地图绘制的兴趣日益浓厚,这无疑受到了 15 世纪重新发现托勒密的影响。起初,图表和图解被用来辅助描述和体验知识,但最终欧洲统治者、投资者和学者希望以这种新的图形方式来形象化他们的世界。西班牙和葡萄牙等国家迅速建立了国家控制的航海地图和图表库。后来,君主们要求绘制各自国家和地区的地图,并绘制更大的帝国地图。结果出现了大量的地图制作,包括杰拉杜斯·墨卡托 (1512-94) 和亚伯拉罕·奥特柳斯 (1527-98) 绘制的世界地图集,这些地图在荷兰精美雕刻,还有英国的克里斯托弗·萨克斯顿 (约 1542-1611) 和法国的尼古拉斯·德·尼古拉 (1517-83) 绘制的国家调查图。在阿姆斯特丹工作的威廉·扬松(1571-1638)和他的儿子约翰内斯·布劳(1596-1673)制作了一系列详细的世界地图。(见图4.5中布劳 1664 年的地图。)地图成为富裕商人渴望的东西,正如我们从维米尔的许多画作中看到的那样,商人的房屋墙上挂着色彩鲜艳的地图。它们被用来可视化和控制空间,建立帝国,并增强当地和地区的自豪感和认同感。
There was a burgeoning interest in the mapping of the world in the sixteenth century, undoubtedly influenced by that fifteenth-century rediscovery of Ptolemy. At first, charts and plots were used as aids to descriptive and experiential knowledge, but eventually European rulers, investors, and scholars wanted to visualize their world in this new graphic way. Countries such as Spain and Portugal were quick to develop state-controlled repositories of navigational maps and charts. Later, monarchs called for the mapping of their individual countries and regions, as well as creating larger maps of imperial concerns. The result was a flood of map production, including world atlases by Gerardus Mercator (1512–94) and Abraham Ortelius (1527–98), beautifully engraved in the Netherlands, and country surveys by Christopher Saxton (c. 1542–1611) in England and Nicolas de Nicolay (1517–83) in France. Working in Amsterdam Willem Jansoon (1571–1638) and his son Johannes Blaeu (1596–1673) produced a series of detailed world maps. (See figure 4.5 for Blaeu’s 1664 map.) Maps became objects of desire for prosperous merchants, as we can see from numerous Vermeer paintings of merchant houses with beautifully colored maps hanging on the walls. They were used to visualize and control space, to build empires, and to swell local and regional pride and identification.
4.5约翰内斯·布劳的世界地图,约 1664 年
4.5 JOHANNES BLAEU’S WORLD MAP, c. 1664
来源:维基共享资源,荷兰皇家图书馆。
Source: Wikimedia Commons, Royal Library of the Netherlands.
新大陆发现最麻烦的方面之一是那里有人。他们是谁?他们是什么?虽然欧洲学者和探险家只能用欧洲的分类和理解来解释他们遇到的事情,但与之前未知的他者的接触对欧洲思想产生了深远的影响。早期的探险家从欧洲人的角度来解释他们遇到的人的风俗和行为,并试图消除不符合他们先入之见的习俗,例如缺乏私有财产或游牧生活方式。16 世纪的西班牙理论家试图将美洲印第安人纳入他们所知道的唯一分类系统:亚里士多德的分类系统。因此,像贝尔纳多·德·梅萨这样的人认为美洲印第安人是天生的奴隶。1520 年代印加人和阿兹特克人的发现使这种说法更难令人信服。显然,用亚里士多德的话来说,这些人是文明人。他们有政府和基础设施,生活在一个复杂的社区中。因此,像弗朗西斯科·德·维多利亚这样的思想家(约 1492–1546) 声称这些人是自然出生的孩子,因为他们会犯下类别错误,例如食人、兽交或吃土,但有能力从错误中吸取教训。他们必须受到保护,因为经过训练,他们可能会被培养成成年人(即欧洲人)的身份。大多数人从未认同这一观点,因为它意味着这些孩子最终会长大,必须归还他们的财产。另一种少数人的观点,即米歇尔·德·蒙田 (1533–92) 的观点,影响深远。蒙田认为,巴西的廷皮南巴人虽然是食人族,但他们是一个高贵的种族,比法国人更有道德,即使他们不穿裤子。这种高贵野蛮人的想法在让·雅克·卢梭的著作中最为著名。
One of the most troublesome aspects of the New World discoveries was the fact that there were people there. Who were they? What were they? While European scholars and explorers could use only European categories and understanding to interpret what they encountered, this contact with a previously unknown Other had far-reaching implications for European thought. Early explorers interpreted the customs and behaviors of those they encountered from a European viewpoint and tried to eliminate customs that did not suit their preconceptions, such as the lack of private property or a nomadic way of life. Sixteenth-century Spanish theorists tried to fit Amerinds into the only classification system they knew: Aristotle’s. Thus, men such as Bernardo de Mesa argued that the Amerinds were natural slaves. The discovery of the Incas and Aztecs in the 1520s made this harder to believe. Clearly, in Aristotelian terms, these people were civilized. They had government and infrastructure and lived in a complex community. And so thinkers such as Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1492–1546) claimed that these people were natural children, based on the idea that they made category errors, such as engaging in cannibalism, bestiality, or eating dirt, but had the capacity to learn from their mistakes. They had to be protected because with training they might be raised up to adult (that is, European) status. This opinion was never shared by the majority, since it implied that eventually these children would grow up and would have to have their property restored to them. Another minority opinion, that of Michel de Montaigne (1533–92), had far-reaching effects. Montaigne argued that the Timpinambas of Brazil, although cannibals, were a noble race, more moral than Frenchmen, even if they did not wear trousers. This idea of the noble savage recurred most famously in the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
自十字军东征以来,欧洲的国内贸易一直在稳步增长,到 16 世纪已发展成为强大的商业文化和经济。随着新大陆贸易网络的发展,大量金银涌入欧洲,欧洲各国之间的制造业和贸易也得到了极大的扩展。欧洲和新大陆的采矿业成为一种增长型产业,随着这些经济和工业的变化,自然哲学也随之发展,尤其是采矿和冶金理论以及炼金术理论。此外,越来越多的熟练工匠开始与自然哲学家建立联系,提出新的问题并开发新的调查系统。
Internal trade in Europe had been growing steadily from the time of the Crusades and by the sixteenth century had developed into a strong mercantile culture and economy. Greatly expanded by the gold and silver bullion flooding into Europe as the New World trading networks developed, manufacturing and trade among European nations expanded considerably. Mining in Europe and the New World became a growth industry, and with these economic and industrial changes, concomitant developments occurred in natural philosophy, especially in theories of mining and metallurgy on the one hand and alchemy on the other. As well, the increasing numbers of skilled artisans began to develop links with natural philosophers, asking new questions and developing new systems of investigation.
自古以来,人们就开始开采贵金属和其他矿物,但这些商品的需求在 16 世纪猛增。用于取暖的煤、用于炼钢的铁、用于制造的锡和铜都是利润丰厚的矿物。开采这些物质需要克服许多技术问题,尤其是任何深度的矿井中都存在的水。人们设计了泵,但没有一种完全令人满意。金属的精炼也是一个必须解决的过程,乔治乌斯·阿格里科拉 (Georgius Agricola,1494-1555 年) 在《论金属的性质》 ( De Re Metallica,1556 年) 中首次用自然哲学术语解释了其中一些过程。(见图4.6。) 阿格里科拉受过人文主义训练,从他使用拉丁语的情况来看,他显然有兴趣向学术界介绍金属研究。另一方面,他住在波西米亚,萨克森州是欧洲最富饶的矿区,而他又娶了一位矿主的女儿,所以他并不是一个完全公正的当事人。
Mining of precious metals and other minerals had taken place since antiquity, but the demand for these goods soared in the sixteenth century. Coal for heat, iron for steel, tin and copper for manufacturing were all profitable minerals. There were a number of technological problems to be overcome in mining these substances, not least the water present in mines of any depth. Pumps were devised, although none were completely satisfactory. The refining of metals was also a process that had to be worked out, and Georgius Agricola (1494–1555) in De Re Metallica (On the Nature of Metals, 1556) was the first to explain some of these processes in natural philosophical terms. (See figure 4.6.) Agricola was humanist-trained and, clearly from his use of Latin, was interested in introducing the study of metals to a scholarly audience. On the other hand, he lived in Bohemia and Saxony, the richest mining lands in Europe, and he married a mine owner’s daughter, so he was not exactly a disinterested party.
4.6 AGRICOLA'S DE RE METALLICA的矿石加工设备(1556)
4.6 ORE PROCESSING EQUIPMENT FROM AGRICOLA’S DE RE METALLICA (1556)
采矿使矿工患上了严重的疾病,因此发现有医生对这些病例感兴趣也就不足为奇了。德国医生 Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim,又名帕拉塞尔苏斯 (1493–1541),在整合医学和炼金术知识方面具有影响力,他被公认为医学化学或医用化学的主要创始人之一。他的一生深受德国各州宗教和社会危机的影响。帕拉塞尔苏斯出生于苏黎世;他的父亲是一名医生,希望他从事这一职业。1514 年,他在西吉斯蒙德·富格尔 (Sigismund Fugger) 的蒂罗尔矿山和冶金车间工作了一年,富格尔也是一名炼金术士。正是通过富格尔,帕拉塞尔苏斯对金属的性质产生了兴趣,他一生中花了很多时间试图识别和辨别金属的特性。离开蒂罗尔后,他游历了欧洲各地,在法国、英国、比利时和斯堪的纳维亚国家的炼金术士手下短暂学习,最后到达意大利,并声称自己于 1516 年在费拉拉大学获得了医学学位。
Mining produced serious illnesses among the miners, so it is no surprise to find a physician who interested himself in these cases. The German physician Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, known as Paracelsus (1493–1541), was influential in bringing together medical and alchemical knowledge, and he is recognized as one of the main creators of iatrochemistry or medical chemistry. His life was deeply influenced by the religious and social crises in the German states. Paracelsus was born in Zurich; his father was a physician who wanted him to follow in the profession. In 1514 he spent a year working at the Tyrolian mines and metallurgical shops of Sigismund Fugger, who was also an alchemist. It was through Fugger that Paracelsus became intrigued by the nature of metals, and he spent much time during his life trying to identify and discern the properties of metals. After he left Tyrol, he traveled widely across Europe, studying briefly with alchemists in France, England, Belgium, and the countries of Scandinavia before finally going to Italy, where he claimed to have earned a medical degree in 1516 at the University of Ferrara.
1526 年,帕拉塞尔苏斯定居斯特拉斯堡行医。他治疗矿工的疾病,尤其是黑肺病。他的炼金术工作使他成为使用金属而不是传统植物药物进行治疗的倡导者。最著名的是,他为新疾病梅毒开出汞处方,这种治疗方法只比原来的症状稍微好一点!帕拉塞尔苏斯名声大噪,当巴塞尔的印刷商和出版商约翰·弗罗本病倒而当地医生无法治愈他时,他派人去请这位年轻的医生。
In 1526 Paracelsus settled in Strasbourg to practice medicine. He treated miners’ diseases, especially black lung. His alchemical work led him to become an advocate of the use of metals rather than traditional plant-based drugs in treatment. Most famously, he prescribed mercury for cases of the new disease of syphilis, a cure only slightly less excruciating than the original symptoms! Paracelsus’s fame grew, and when the printer and publisher Johann Froben of Basel fell ill and local physicians failed to cure him, he sent for the young doctor.
帕拉塞尔苏斯治愈了他的病。当时,著名的荷兰人文主义者和圣经学者德西德里乌斯·伊拉斯谟正和弗罗本住在一起,因此帕拉塞尔苏斯的成功受到了广泛关注。帕拉塞尔苏斯被任命为巴塞尔的市医生和医学教授。他接受了这个职位,但只担任了两年,因为他关于疾病治疗的激进思想引起了巨大争议。他以公开焚烧盖伦和阿维森纳的著作开始了他的市医生生涯,以表明他拒绝使用草药治疗疾病的旧医学。他在其他方面也很激进,坚持用德语而不是拉丁语授课。他的学生爱他,但他的同事却恨他,他经常批评他们。
Paracelsus cured him. At the time, Desiderius Erasmus, the famous Dutch humanist and biblical scholar, was staying with Froben, so Paracelsus’s success was widely noted. Paracelsus was offered the position of City Physician and Professor of Medicine in Basel. He accepted, but held the position for only two years, since his radical ideas about the treatment of disease caused great controversy. He started his career as City Physician by publicly burning copies of Galen and Avicenna in order to demonstrate his rejection of the old medicine, which treated diseases with herbs. He was also radical in other ways, insisting on lecturing in German rather than Latin. He was loved by his students but hated by his associates, whom he frequently criticized.
市政官员为选择帕拉塞尔苏斯辩护,以对抗药剂师和其他医生的强烈抗议。后来,利希滕费尔斯牧师病倒了,他向任何能治愈他的医生提供 100 古尔登。帕拉塞尔苏斯用他的金属系统和利希滕费尔斯恢复但拒绝支付。帕拉塞尔苏斯将他告上法庭,但由于问题已经解决或由于帕拉塞尔苏斯方面的一些法律错误,他没有赢得诉讼。他离开了职位,余生在欧洲流浪,因为他的激进思想而多次与当局发生冲突。由于没有强大的支持者保护他,他经常面临被世俗当局逮捕或被宗教官员指控为异端或巫术的危险。最后,在 1541 年 4 月,他在巴伐利亚大主教公爵恩斯特的宫廷中找到了工作。恩斯特对炼金术非常感兴趣,因此很可能是出于医疗和炼金术的原因而提供赞助职位。不幸的是,帕拉塞尔苏斯因多年的艰辛而身体虚弱,于同年 9 月去世。
The city officials defended their choice of Paracelsus against a clamor of protest from apothecaries and other doctors. Then the Canon Lichtenfels fell ill and offered 100 gulden to any doctor who could cure him. Paracelsus used his metallic system and Lichtenfels recovered but then refused to pay. Paracelsus took him to court, but either because the fix was in or because of some legal mistake on Paracelsus’s part, he did not win his case. He left his position and spent the remainder of his life wandering through Europe, repeatedly running into trouble with authorities for his radical ideas. Lacking a powerful patron to protect him, he was in constant danger of being arrested by secular authorities or accused of heresy or witchcraft by religious officials. Finally, in April 1541, he found employment at the court of the Archbishop Duke Ernst of Bavaria. Ernst was very interested in alchemy, so it was likely the patronage position was offered for both medical and alchemical reasons. Unfortunately, Paracelsus, weakened by years of hardship, died in September that same year.
与亚里士多德认为有四种基本元素不同,帕拉塞尔苏斯和文艺复兴时期的许多炼金术士同行声称只有三种:盐、汞和硫。将这三种元素精心组合,经过艰苦、秘密和长期的实验室操作,可能会产生虚幻的魔法石、永生之源、灵魂之金,甚至物质之金。虽然帕拉塞尔苏斯可以被视为炼金术士,但他对嬗变并不真正感兴趣。相反,他对医学化学感兴趣。他认同逐渐发展的观点,即炼金术应该关注将物质世界用于有用的目的,而不是徒劳地创造贵金属。虽然他的大部分工作都有神秘的方面,但他也提倡基于元素组成理解物质的概念,这是后来化学工作的基础思想之一。
Unlike Aristotle, who had argued that there were four basic elements, Paracelsus and many of his fellow Renaissance alchemists claimed there were only three: salt, mercury, and sulfur. The careful combination of these three, with arduous, secret, and prolonged laboratory manipulations, might lead to the illusive Philosopher’s Stone, the source of eternal life, the gold of the soul, and perhaps material gold as well. While Paracelsus can be seen as an alchemist, he was not really interested in transmutation. Instead, he was interested in iatrochemistry – medical chemistry. He shared the slowly evolving view that alchemy should be concerned with employing the material world for useful purposes, not with the fruitless effort to create precious metals. Although much of his work had mystical aspects, he also promoted the concept of understanding matter based on elemental composition, one of the foundational ideas of later work in chemistry.
炼金术士的深奥研究和药剂师的平凡工作之间往往没有明确的界限。两者都属于一个日益壮大的熟练工匠群体,他们在十六世纪欧洲的城市中心从事这一行业,人数越来越多。印刷工、仪器制造工、测量员和造船工都开始思考如何利用自然界为自己谋利。他们经常使用数学,有时也教授数学。这个由高级工匠组成的社区,以及在宫廷或私人赞助人家中等非传统环境中接受培训和受雇的学者,对构成、设计和运行提出了新的问题这将导致下个世纪科学事业发生重大调整。
There was often no clear line to be drawn between the esoteric research of the alchemist and the mundane concerns of the apothecary. Both belonged to a growing group of skilled artisans who plied their trade in increasingly large numbers in the urban centers of sixteenth-century Europe. Printers, instrument makers, surveyors, and shipwrights all began to ask questions about how the natural world could be used to their benefit. They often used and sometimes taught mathematics. This community of superior artisans, together with scholars trained and employed in nontraditional settings such as courts or the homes of private patrons, developed new questions about the make-up, design, and running of the world that would lead, by the next century, to a major reorientation of the scientific enterprise.
4.7 1500 年至 1650 年欧洲自然哲学著作的主要遗址
4.7 MAJOR SITES OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHICAL WORK IN EUROPE, 1500–1650
自然哲学家、数学家和实践者聚集的地方之一是王室宫廷。在文艺复兴时期,这些是壮观和文化的场所,政治、文化和知识赞助鼓励了一些自古以来最耀眼和最华丽的宫廷。这些宫廷中最早的当然是意大利的,正如我们已经看到的,佛罗伦萨的美第奇家族聚集了当时一些最杰出的艺术家、人文主义者和自然哲学家。其他王子和宫廷也纷纷效仿,很快自然哲学就成为这个赞助体系的一部分,影响了研究的主题及其研究方式。汉斯·霍尔拜因于 1533 年创作的肖像画《大使》展示了数学工具对朝臣自我塑造的重要性。 (见图 4.8)这两位法国驻亨利八世宫廷大使展示了天球仪、地球仪、象限仪、扭矩仪和多面体日晷,作为其学识和财富的证据。
One place where natural philosophers, mathematicians, and practitioners came together was the princely court. During the Renaissance these were sites of spectacle and culture where political, cultural, and intellectual patronage encouraged some of the most glittering and opulent courts seen since antiquity. The earliest of these courts were, of course, Italian, and as we have already seen, the Medicis of Florence gathered together some of the foremost artists, humanists, and natural philosophers of their day. Other princes and courts followed suit, and soon natural philosophy became part of this patronage system, affecting the topics of investigation and how they were investigated. Hans Holbein’s portrait entitled The Ambassadors, painted in 1533, demonstrates the importance of mathematical instruments to the self-fashioning of courtiers. (See figure 4.8.) These two men, French ambassadors to the court of Henry VIII, display a celestial and terrestrial globe, a quadrant, a torquetum, and a polyhedral sundial as evidence of their learning and wealth.
4.8霍尔拜因的《大使》(1533)
4.8 HOLBEIN’S THE AMBASSADORS (1533)
来源:英国伦敦国家美术馆/Bridgeman Images。
Source: National Gallery, London, UK / Bridgeman Images.
赞助是一种依赖制度,由赞助人和客户两个个人签订个人合同。赞助人拥有权力、金钱和地位,但想要更多。客户可以给赞助人更多,同时自己得到一些。因此,这是一种双向的、往往不稳定的关系。整个系统基于改变地位的平衡。在自然哲学关系中,客户声称拥有特殊的知识或技能,通常具有一些实际应用,尽管有时他只是向赞助人提供能够超越其他王子自然知识的声望哲学家。哲学家通过向潜在赞助人献书或寄送手稿、散发有关赞助人兴趣的信件或出版承认赞助人伟大的书籍来吸引赞助人的注意。通过谈判,赞助人授予科学家一些宫廷或家庭职位。这通常会导致宫廷中的科学变得有用、大胆且常常引起争议。在某些情况下,会与赞助人或宫廷其他成员开展合作。
Patronage was a system of dependency, with personal contracts between two individuals: the patron and the client. The patron had power, money, and status, but wanted more. The client could give the patron more of these while getting some for himself. It was thus a two-way and often volatile relationship. The whole system was based on changing the balance of status. In natural philosophical relationships the client claimed special knowledge or skill, usually with some practical application, although sometimes he simply offered the patron the prestige of being able to surpass the knowledge of some other prince’s natural philosopher. The philosopher sought to gain the attention of the would-be patron by dedicating a book or sending a manuscript to him or her, by circulating a letter concerning the patron’s interests, or by publishing a book acknowledging the patron’s greatness. Through negotiations the patron granted some court or household position to the scientist. This generally led to science at the courts that was useful, daring, and often controversial. In some cases cooperative enterprises were undertaken with the patron or other members of court.
这种客户-赞助人关系的例子不胜枚举,包括法国查理八世宫廷中的列奥纳多·达·芬奇(1452-1519 年)、德国王子从业者,如鲁道夫二世和黑森伯爵威廉四世;以及英国女王伊丽莎白一世宫廷中的天文学家和数学家约翰·迪(1527-1608 年)。赞助关系的最好例子然而,最能体现这种关系及其对自然哲学影响的,是伽利略·伽利莱 (1564-1642) 的一生。虽然现代评论家记得伽利略最终被罗马宗教裁判所定罪,但他在当时因望远镜观测而闻名。通过天文学,甚至通过物理学,伽利略构建了一个抽象的数学图式,暗示了世界抽象化和数学化,这对早期现代自然哲学至关重要。他相信上帝用数字、重量和尺寸创造了世界,因此他用定律研究取代了原因研究。他使用测量和实验,这通常被视为现代科学方法的一部分。但也许伽利略最有趣的地方在于,他所做的这一切并不是像哥白尼那样在神学院里,也不是像牛顿那样在大学里,而是在宫廷里。伽利略完全是一个早期现代的朝臣,一种知识骑士,拥有获得(和失去)的力量,并不断寻求创新来帮助和荣耀他的赞助人。
There are numerous examples of these client-patron relationships, including that of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) at the court of Charles VIII of France; German prince-practitioners such as Rudolph II and Wilhelm IV, Landgraf of Hesse; and the astronomer and mathematician John Dee (1527–1608) at the English court of Queen Elizabeth I. The best example of the patronage relationship and its effect on natural philosophy, however, is the life of Galileo Galilei (1564–1642). While modern commentators remember Galileo’s final condemnation by the Roman Inquisition, he was famous in his day for his telescopic sightings. Through his astronomy and even more through his physics, Galileo constructed an abstract mathematical schema, suggesting the abstraction and mathematization of the world so integral to early modern natural philosophy. He believed that God had constructed the world using number, weight, and measure, and thus he replaced the study of causes with the study of laws. He used measurement and experiment, usually seen as part of modern scientific method. But perhaps what is most interesting about Galileo is that he did all this not within theological institutions as Copernicus had done, or in the universities as Newton would do, but at court. Galileo was every inch an early modern courtier, a kind of intellectual knight, with power to gain (and lose), and constantly looking for innovations to aid and glorify his patron.
伽利略于 1564 年出生于比萨。他早年移居佛罗伦萨,一直认为自己是佛罗伦萨人。他的父亲文森齐奥·伽利莱是一位著名的音乐家,发现了许多重要的数学音乐定律。文森齐奥希望儿子成为一名医生,他说“这样能赚到比音乐家多十倍的钱”,但伽利略对数学更感兴趣。他在比萨大学的第一份工作是数学老师,处于学术地位的底层。他的第一个重要职位是在威尼斯控制下的帕多瓦大学,他利用自己与威尼斯精英中有权势的人的赞助关系一步步晋升。伽利略一直需要钱,因为他有七个兄弟姐妹需要他供养。他需要为他的姐妹们找到大笔嫁妆,而他那不守规矩的兄弟米开朗基罗·伽利莱则一直负债累累。
Galileo was born in Pisa in 1564. He moved to Florence early in his life and always thought of himself as a Florentine. His father, Vincenzio Galilei, was a famous musician who discovered a number of important mathematical musical laws. Vincenzio wanted his son to become a physician who, he said “made ten times as much money as a musician,” but Galileo was more interested in mathematics. His first job, at the University of Pisa, was as a teacher of mathematics, at the bottom of the academic status ladder. His first significant post was at the University of Padua, which was under the control of Venice, and he used his patronage connections with powerful people in the Venetian elite to work his way up. Galileo was always in need of money, because he had seven brothers and sisters who relied on him for support. He needed to find big dowries for his sisters, and his errant brother Michelangelo Galilei was constantly in debt.
在比萨,尤其是在帕多瓦,伽利略开始研究运动,尽管他 40 年来都没有发表过他的研究成果,因为他无法弄清所有令自己满意的细节。多年后,他认为这不是一个重要的问题;他没有寻找原因,而是发展了运动的规律。他最终在《论两门新科学》(1638 年)中发表了他的力学理论。他驳斥了亚里士多德的运动观念,表明速度确实会不断增加,至少在自由落体中是如此,因此,冲力(施加在物体上的力,亚里士多德认为它会随着时间而消失)并不存在。相反,伽利略认为,一旦产生连续运动或持续静止,就会永远存在。这与牛顿后来的惯性思想不同,对伽利略来说,连续运动是圆形的。在伽利略的系统中,一个在地球上运动的球,如果没有摩擦或任何其他外力的阻碍,应该在绕地球的轨道上连续运动。伽利略在力学领域最重大的成就可能是他对抽象和可测量的运动做出了清晰的描述。
While at Pisa, and especially at Padua, Galileo began to study motion, although he did not publish his findings for 40 years because he could not figure out all the details to his own satisfaction. After many years he decided this was not an important question; rather than look for the cause, he developed laws of how motion worked. He eventually published his mechanics in Discourse on the Two New Sciences (1638). He rejected Aristotelian notions of motion, showing that speed does increase continuously, at least in free fall and, therefore, that impetus (the force impressed on an object, which Aristotle said would wear out with time) did not exist. Instead, Galileo argued that continuous motion once imparted, or continuing stillness, would remain forever. What separates this from Newton’s later idea of inertia is that for Galileo continuous motion was circular. In Galileo’s system a ball set in motion on the Earth, if unimpeded by friction or any other extraneous force, should travel continuously in an orbit around the Earth. Probably Galileo’s most significant achievement in mechanics was his development of a clear picture of abstract and measurable motion.
多年来,历史学家们一直认为伽利略只做过思想实验。现在我们知道,他做过实际实验,尽管他最著名的实验——比萨斜塔实验并非由他完成,这使其成为科学史上最著名的未完成实验。有可能他的一个学生从塔顶扔下了两个不同质量的球,尽管伽利略是否亲眼目睹了这一过程尚不清楚。实验的目的是查明亚里士多德是否正确,他曾预测两个球会以与其重量成比例的不同速度下落。伽利略的实际运动实验使他预测两个球会以相同的速度下落。根据伽利略的说法,如果两个球同时从塔上扔下,它们会同时落地。考虑到空气阻力造成的微小变化,伽利略是正确的。
For many years historians believed that Galileo did only thought experiments. We now know that he did practical experiments, although probably his most famous one, the Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment, was not performed by him, making this the most famous unperformed experiment in the history of science. It is possible that one of his students dropped two balls of different masses from the top of the tower, although it is not clear that Galileo witnessed this. The point of the experiment was to find out whether Aristotle, who predicted that the two balls would fall at different rates proportional to their weight, was correct. Galileo’s actual experiments on motion led him to predict that the two balls would fall at the same rate. According to Galileo, if the two balls were dropped from the tower at the same time, they would hit the ground at the same instant. Allowing for a small variation due to air resistance, Galileo was correct.
研究落体时遇到的问题是,物体的运动速度太快,当时的设备无法进行定量分析。当时没有秒表,所以伽利略设计了一种方法来“稀释”自由落体的速度。他让球从倾斜的平面上滚下来,平面上有规则间隔的小凹口。他通过听球撞到凸起物时的咔嗒声并将其与某人唱格里高利圣咏的声音进行比较来测量时间。他发现距离静止处与经过时间的平方成正比(k = d/t2 )。这是一项伟大的发现,他消除了所有现实生活中的干扰,从而创造了一个几乎没有摩擦的平面,他可以在这个平面上研究理想的例子。伽利略不再问物体为什么下落(原因),而是测量它们下落的速度。这条定律对牛顿后来的工作影响极大,牛顿将它应用于宇宙,并构建了一个可以更精确测量的世界。牛顿和伽利略一样,回避了原因的问题。
The problem with the study of falling bodies was that they traveled far too fast for quantitative analysis with the equipment available at the time. There were no stopwatches in his day, so Galileo devised a method to “dilute” the rate of free fall. He rolled balls down an inclined plane, which had small notches at regular intervals. He measured the time by listening to the click as the ball hit these bumps and comparing it with someone singing Gregorian chants. He discovered that distances from rest were proportional to the squares of the elapsed time (k = d/t2). This was a huge discovery, achieved by removing all real-life distractions, thereby creating an almost frictionless plane on which he could study an ideal example. Galileo was no longer asking why bodies fell (the cause) but rather measuring how fast they did so. This law was extremely influential for Newton’s later work as he applied it to the universe and constructed a world subject to even more accurate measurement. Newton, like Galileo, avoided the question of causes.
伽利略还研究了抛射运动问题,这对他所服务的诸侯和公国来说很重要,因为它与弹道学和战争有关。他通过将炮弹的运动分为两部分(向前运动和地球回旋运动),确定炮弹以抛物线运动。他发现,炮弹从大炮中发射出来时落地的时间与炮弹从同一位置落下时落地的时间相同,并确定将大炮指向 45° 角可产生最大射程。(见图4.9。)由于伽利略是哥白尼主义者,他使用不同运动矢量的论点来论证地球的运动。
Galileo also worked on the problem of projectile motion, important to the princes and principalities for whom he worked, since it was connected to ballistics and warfare. He determined that cannonballs move in a parabola by dividing their motion into two parts (forward motion and earth-seeking motion). He discovered that a ball shot from a cannon will hit the ground at the same moment as one dropped from the same place and determined that pointing the cannon at a 45° angle produced a maximum range. (See figure 4.9.) Since Galileo was a Copernican, he used this argument of the different vectors of motion to argue for the movement of the Earth.
4.9火炮射程问题
4.9 THE QUESTION OF CANNON RANGE
随着伽利略在赞助体系中的地位不断上升,他发现天文学工作比力学或数学更能吸引赞助。虽然弹道学很有用,但望远镜和新天体的发现才是他获得地位、地位和权威的最大回报。望远镜是在十七世纪初在荷兰发明的。伽利略听说了这项发明,并进口了一个模型。他研究了光学原理,并开发了一种更威力强大的版本。1609 年,他向威尼斯宫廷展示了他的奇迹,表明他的支持者可以在仅用肉眼搜索的人之前两个小时通过望远镜看到一艘返回的商船,从而可以操纵商品市场。这是内幕交易的报复!威尼斯参议院对此印象深刻。他们愿意给他双倍的薪水并给他终身职位,但作为回报,他未来的所有发明都将属于参议院,他永远不能再要求加薪。
As Galileo worked his way up the patronage system, he found that astronomical work was more successful in attracting patronage than mechanics or mathematics. While ballistics had been useful, it was the telescope and the discovery of new celestial bodies that brought him the greatest rewards of position, status, and authority. The telescope had been developed in the Netherlands in the first years of the seventeenth century. Galileo heard of this invention and imported a model. He worked out the optical principles and developed a more powerful version. In 1609 he demonstrated his marvel to the Venetian court, showing that his backers could see a returning merchant ship through the telescope two hours before someone searching with only the naked eye, thereby allowing a manipulation of the commodities market. Here was insider trading with a vengeance! The Venetian Senate was very impressed. They were willing to double his salary and give him a lifelong position, but in return all his future inventions would belong to the Senate and he could never ask for another pay increase.
伽利略还瞄准了另一个目标——佛罗伦萨美第奇家族的宫廷职位。美第奇家族可以说是意大利半岛上最重要的赞助人,其权力和声望仅次于教皇宫廷。他们可能是欧洲最富有的家族,与教皇关系密切,商业利益遍布地中海及其他地方。他们可以给予伽利略他想要的地位和自由。伽利略最初教大公的儿子科西莫(柏拉图学院创始人科西莫的后代)数学。他发明了比例罗盘(他制造并销售),并在一段时间内教授航海等实用数学。1609 年,他开始行动。他把望远镜对准天空,发现有四颗卫星围绕着木星旋转。这一发现和其他发现都发表在1610 年的《星际信使》一书中。他还发现太阳有旋转的黑子,金星有相位,月球上有陨石坑和山脉。这一切都引起了极大的争议,因为它表明了天空的不完美,这与亚里士多德的超月完美论相悖。他将木星的四个卫星命名为美第奇星,作为潜在客户送给强大赞助人的礼物。科西莫,现在的大公,很高兴。经过多次谈判,伽利略被任命为宫廷哲学家。这是地位的一次巨大飞跃。但当然,地位也伴随着风险。伽利略现在需要参加许多智力争论,作为为他的赞助人的荣誉而进行的决斗。最终,他从佛罗伦萨搬到了罗马,并寻求教皇的赞助。这些风险导致了他的垮台。
Galileo had his eye on another prize – a position at the Medicis’s court in Florence. The Medicis were arguably the most important patrons on the Italian peninsula, surpassed only by the court of the pope for power and prestige. They were possibly the richest family in Europe, with connections to the pope and business interests all over the Mediterranean and beyond. They could give Galileo the status and freedom he desired. Galileo began by teaching mathematics to the Grand Duke’s son, Cosimo (descendant of the Cosimo who founded the Platonic Academy). He invented the proportional compass (which he manufactured and sold) and for a time taught practical mathematics like navigation. In 1609 he made his move. He turned his telescope on the skies and discovered that there were four moons circling Jupiter. This and other findings were all published in Sidereus Nuntius (The Starry Messenger) in 1610. He also discovered that the Sun had rotating spots, that Venus had phases, and that the Moon had craters and mountains. All this was highly controversial, since it showed the imperfection of the heavens, which went against Aristotelian supralunar perfection. He named the four moons of Jupiter the Medician stars, as a gift from a prospective client to a powerful patron. Cosimo, now Grand Duke, was delighted. After much negotiation, Galileo was given the position of Court Philosopher. This was a huge jump in status. But, of course, with status came risks. Galileo was now expected to take part in many intellectual wrangles as duels for the honor of his patron. Eventually, he moved from Florence to Rome and looked to the pope for patronage. These risks proved his downfall.
另一位同样受到这些新赞助要求影响的天文学家是约翰尼斯·开普勒 (1571-1630)。开普勒是一个反社会的近视者,来自一个不合群的家庭。尽管如此,他还是成为神圣罗马帝国皇帝鲁道夫二世宫廷中的皇家数学家,从而将天文学实践与这个强大宫廷的荣耀和奇迹结合在一起。开普勒通常被称为第一位真正的哥白尼主义者(尽管几位不太知名的十六世纪天文学家也可以共享这个头衔),因为他全心全意地支持日心说。在此过程中,他将其改为一种会让哥白尼感到震惊的体系,因为他摧毁了天空完美圆周运动的想法。他还试图将天空的物理学与其运动的数学模型结合起来。换句话说,开普勒问的是天空运动的物理原因是什么,而不仅仅是绘制它们的轨迹。他的解释没有被其他自然哲学家采纳,但却向天文学家表明了这些问题的重要性。
Another astronomer whose career was equally influenced by these new patronage requirements was Johannes Kepler (1571–1630). Kepler was an antisocial, nearsighted man, descended from a family of misfits. Despite this, he became the Imperial Mathematician in the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II, and thereby joined the practice of astronomy to the glory and wonder of this powerful court. Kepler is often called the first true Copernican (although several lesser-known sixteenth-century astronomers could share this title) because he whole-heartedly endorsed the heliocentric system. In the process of doing so he changed it to one that would have horrified Copernicus, since he destroyed the idea of the perfect circular motion of the heavens. He also attempted to join the physics of the heavens to a mathematical model of their motion. In other words, Kepler asked what the physical cause of the motions of the heavens was, rather than just mapping their course. His explanations were not taken up by other natural philosophers but showed astronomers that such questions were important.
开普勒于 1571 年 5 月 16 日凌晨 4:37 受孕,并于 1571 年 12 月 27 日下午 2:30 出生,孕期持续了 224 天 9 小时 53 分钟。我们之所以知道这一点,是因为开普勒自己算过星座,而这些细节对于做出准确的预测是必不可少的。这证明了占星术对开普勒以及早期现代天文学家和社会的重要性,以及精确度和数学准确性对开普勒的重要性。
Kepler was conceived on May 16, 1571, at 4:37 am and was born on December 27, 1571, at 2:30 pm, after a pregnancy lasting 224 days, 9 hours, and 53 minutes. We know this because Kepler cast his own horoscope, and these details were necessary to make accurate predictions. This demonstrates the importance of astrology to Kepler in particular and to early modern astronomers and society more generally, as well as the importance for Kepler of precision and mathematical accuracy.
开普勒的童年非常不幸。他生长在一个非常贫穷的施瓦本路德教家庭,父亲虐待他,母亲精神失常,后来被指控为女巫。他年轻时最辉煌的时刻是获得了奖学金,进入在图宾根大学,他学习了神学。毕业后,他在格拉茨找到了一份数学老师兼占星师的工作。在教数学的时候(教室里几乎空无一人——他的教学技能很差),他得到了一个改变他一生的启示。一瞬间,宇宙的结构在他眼前一览无余。当他用一个圆圈外接一个三角形时,他意识到行星的轨道可能就是这样的。(见图4.10。)
Kepler had a very unhappy childhood. He grew up in a very poor Swabian Lutheran family with an abusive father and an unbalanced mother who was later tried as a witch. The high point of his young life was receiving a scholarship to the University of Tübingen, where he studied theology. When he finished his degree, he took a job as a mathematics teacher and astrologer in Graz. While teaching mathematics (to virtually empty classrooms – his pedagogic skills were low), he had a revelation that was to change his life. In a flash of insight, the structure of the universe was laid bare to him. He was circumscribing a triangle with a circle when he realized that the orbits of the planets might work this way. (See figure 4.10.)
4.10开普勒的轨道
4.10 KEPLER’S ORBITS
旋转三角形和正方形产生轨道
Rotating the triangle and the square produces orbits
由此开普勒提出了三个问题:为什么行星的间距是那样的?为什么它们的运动有特定的规律?为什么只有六颗行星?(后一个问题表明他是哥白尼主义者,因为托勒密体系中有七颗行星。)凭借对外接三角形的洞察力,他找到了第一个和最后一个问题的答案。他将二维图形转化为三维立体。由于欧几里得几何中只有五种正立体,因此六颗行星完美契合,每条轨道之间都有一个立体。这似乎重现了行星的特殊间距。开普勒于 1596 年在Mysterium Cosmographicum(宇宙之谜)中发表了这一发现。(见图4.11。)后来,在他的《新天文学》 (1609 年)和《宇宙之谜》第二版中,他阐述了行星以这种特殊配置运动的物理原因。他假设某种“磁力”从太阳中心发出,是运动的原因。也就是说,太阳是原动力,这一概念表明开普勒受到了新柏拉图主义思想的影响。尽管整个方案存在许多问题,但它将为开普勒提供他一生的研究项目。
From this Kepler developed three questions: Why were the planets spaced the way they were? Why did they move with particular regularities? Why were there just six planets? (The latter question marks him as a Copernican, since there are seven planets in the Ptolemaic scheme.) With his insight concerning the circumscribed triangle, he saw the answer to the first and last questions. He transformed his two-dimensional figure into a three-dimensional solid. Since there are only five regular solids in Euclidean geometry, the six planets fit perfectly with one solid between each orbit. This seemed to recreate the particular spacing of the planets. Kepler published this finding in Mysterium Cosmographicum (The Mystery of the Universe) in 1596. (See figure 4.11.) Later, in his New Astronomy (1609) and in the second edition of Mystery, he laid out the physical reason for the planets’ motion in this particular configuration. He postulated that some sort of “magnetic” force emanated from the Sun, in the center, and was the cause of motion. That is, the Sun was the prime mover, a concept that shows that Kepler was influenced by neo-Platonic ideas. Although there were many problems with this whole schema, it would provide Kepler with his life’s project.
4.11开普勒嵌套几何立体
4.11 KEPLER’S NESTED GEOMETRIC SOLIDS
基于开普勒在《宇宙之谜》(1596 年)中提出的行星间距概念
Based on Kepler’s concept of the spacing of the planets in Mysterium Cosmographicum (1596)
开普勒意识到,为了改进他的模型,他需要更好地观察行星运动。他决定去找欧洲最好的观察者,于是成为了第谷·布拉赫的助手。开普勒在布拉格加入了第谷的行列,当时第谷刚刚成为鲁道夫二世的皇家数学家。他们有一个关系非常紧张。第谷坚持让开普勒研究火星的轨道,但他对此并不乐意。结果,这非常幸运,因为火星的轨道是所有行星中最不规则的,开普勒被迫放弃圆形轨道的想法,以便将观测结果与数学模型相匹配。开普勒从未进行过自己的观测(他近视得无法准确看到恒星和行星),但他花了八年时间计算了一张又一张的数字。这是一项枯燥、重复、苛刻的工作,回报却很少。
Kepler recognized that in order to improve his model he needed better observations of planetary motion. He decided to go to the best observer in Europe and so became an assistant to Tycho Brahe. Kepler joined Tycho in Prague, where Tycho had recently become the Imperial Mathematician to Rudolph II. They had a very stormy relationship. Tycho insisted that Kepler work on the orbit of Mars, which he was not very happy to do. As it turned out, this was very fortunate, since Mars has the most irregular orbit of all the planets, and Kepler was forced to abandon the idea of a circular orbit in order to match observation to mathematical model. Kepler never did his own observations (he was far too nearsighted to see the stars and planets accurately), but he spent eight years calculating sheet after sheet of numbers. This was boring, repetitive, exacting work with little reward.
第谷曾希望开普勒能证明第谷体系,但作为哥白尼主义者的开普勒却另有打算。1601 年第谷去世后,鲁道夫任命开普勒接替他为帝国数学家。这给了开普勒地位,尽管报酬不多。他以占星为生,但仍有时间创作通常被视为他最伟大的作品《新天文学》(1609 年),或更完整地说,《基于因果关系的新天文学或从研究火星运动得出的天空物理学》。该书以高贵的第谷·布拉赫的观测为基础。开普勒对火星轨道进行了八年的研究,他的计算与哥白尼体系的误差在八角分以内。虽然这相当准确(哥白尼本人的误差也只在 10 分钟以内),但开普勒确信第谷的观测比这更好。经过一番艰苦的努力,他得出结论,行星的轨道是椭圆形。虽然这并不是他制定的第一条行星运动定律,但天文学家和历史学家将其称为开普勒第一定律,因为它是他其他观测的基础。他还假设,太阳的“磁力”扫过它前面的行星,其作用方式在数学上是一致的,从太阳到每颗行星的一条线在相等的时间内扫过相等的面积(称为等面积定律或开普勒第二定律)。这意味着,当行星离太阳越近,它的运动速度就越快。
Tycho had hoped Kepler would prove the Tychonic system, but Kepler, as a Copernican, had other plans. After Tycho’s death in 1601 Rudolph appointed Kepler Imperial Mathematician in his place. This gave Kepler status, although not much pay. He earned his living casting horoscopes but still had time to work on what is often seen as his greatest work, Astronomia Nova (1609) or, more fully, A New Astronomy Based on Causation or a Physics of the Sky Derived from Investigations of the Motions of the Star Mars. Founded on the Observations of the Noble Tycho Brahe. Kepler had worked on the orbit of Mars for eight years and had got his calculations to agree with the Copernican system to within eight minutes of arc. Although this is fairly accurate (Copernicus himself was only accurate to within 10 minutes), Kepler was sure that Tycho’s observations were better than that. After a terrible struggle, he concluded that the orbit of the planet was an ellipse. Although this was not the first law of planetary motion he worked out, astronomers and historians came to call it Kepler’s First Law because it underlay his other observations. He also postulated that the “magnetic” force of the Sun, sweeping the planets around before it, operated in a mathematically consistent way and that a line from the Sun to each planet swept out an equal area in an equal time (called the equal area law, or Kepler’s Second Law). This meant that, when the planet was closer to the Sun, it moved faster.
1618 年,开普勒出版了他的第三本巨作《世界的和谐》。在这本书中,他认为行星在天空中运行,创造出和谐的音乐。开普勒在三十年战争开始时,被迫逃离布拉格,并在他母亲因巫术和女儿的死而接受审判时,写了这本书,声称发现了音乐、天文学和占星术中的和谐宏伟蓝图,这或许很能说明问题。正如开普勒在《世界的和谐》中所说,“战神咆哮、怒吼、咆哮,试图用炮弹、喇叭和他所有的塔兰坦塔兰来打断,但都是徒劳的……让我们鄙视回荡在这片高贵土地上的野蛮嘶鸣,唤醒我们对和谐的理解和渴望。” 2
In 1618 Kepler published the third of his great books, Harmonices Mundi (The Harmonies of the World). In this work he argued that the planets, sweeping out their paths through the heavens, created harmonious music. It is perhaps telling that Kepler wrote this book that claimed to have discovered a grand scheme of harmony – in music, astronomy, and astrology – at the start of the Thirty Years’ War, which necessitated his flight from Prague, and during the trial of his mother for witchcraft and the death of his daughter. As Kepler says in Harmonices Mundi, “In vain does the God of War growl, snarl, roar, and try to interrupt with bombards, trumpets, and his whole tarantantaran … let us despise the barbaric neighings which echo through these noble lands, and awaken our understanding and longing for the harmonies.”2
4.12开普勒三大定律
4.12 KEPLER’S THREE LAWS
在发现土星的大三度和木星的小三度的过程中,开普勒还提出了我们现在所说的谐波定律,即第三定律。在这条通过反复试验而得出的定律中,他证明了周期时间(行星绕太阳旋转一圈的时间)与太阳距离之间的数学关系,即距离太阳越远,周期时间就越大。他发现,轨道周期平方(T 2)与轨道平均半径立方(R 3)之比对于所有行星都是相同的值(K 或常数)。
In the midst of discovering the major third played by Saturn and the minor third played by Jupiter, Kepler also developed what we now call his Harmonic Law, or Third Law. In this law, developed by trial and error, he demonstrated the mathematical relationship between the periodic time (time for a single revolution around the Sun by a planet) and the distance from the sun, so that the farther away from the Sun, the greater the periodic time. He found that the ratio of the period of the orbit squared (T2) to the mean radius of the orbit cubed (R3) is the same value (K or a constant) for all the planets.
尽管开普勒做了大量工作,但他对行星运动的解释对当时的其他天文学家影响不大。作为鲁道夫宫廷的皇家数学家,他是自然哲学的重要代表。他的书当然受到重视,但除了鲁道夫星表外,似乎很少有人读过。在他那个时代,他的工作被认为是困难的,甚至是危险的。他在科学史上的地位更多地取决于他与他对当时天文学的影响比后来的思想更为深远。历史学家们选择了三条符合现代天文学思想的“定律”,特别是牛顿所确定的定律,但它们与开普勒创立的数十条其他定律混在一起,现在已被遗忘。开普勒的同时代人伽利略认为他是一个危险的人,他们的通信既礼貌又冷淡。开普勒是可疑的:因为他是新教徒,是宫廷天文学家的对手,而且众所周知他曾接近“神秘力量”,这既因为他的母亲被指控使用巫术,也因为他对天体运动的物理解释依赖于超距作用。超距作用要求物体之间没有某种物质联系就能相互作用,而开普勒关于某种磁力移动行星的推测被视为一种神奇的解释。
Despite the amount of work Kepler did, his explanations for planetary motion had little impact on other astronomers of his day. As the Imperial Mathematician to Rudolph’s court, he was an important representative of natural philosophy. His books were certainly taken seriously but, except for the Rudolphine Tables, seem to have been seldom read. In his time his work was regarded as difficult and even dangerous. His place in the history of science depends more on his relationship to later ideas than his effect on astronomy of the day. Historians have selected the three “Laws” that accord with more modern astronomical ideas, particularly as identified by Newton, but they were mixed in with dozens of other laws created by Kepler and now forgotten. Galileo, Kepler’s contemporary, saw him as a dangerous person to know, and their correspondence was polite and unenthusiastic. Kepler was suspect: as a Protestant, as a rival court astronomer, and as someone known to travel close to “occult forces,” both because of the witchcraft accusation leveled at his mother and because his physical explanation for the motion of the heavens relied on action at a distance. Action at a distance required things to interact without some material connection between the objects, and Kepler’s speculation about a kind of magnetic force moving the planets was seen as a magical explanation.
牛顿称赞开普勒的许多想法,但后来又声称自己没有从开普勒的工作中得到任何启发。另一方面,开普勒向我们展示了 16 世纪和 17 世纪初天文学的运作方式。他多年的计算证明了数学对宇宙研究的重要性,他在鲁道夫宫廷中的地位也让我们想起了这个自然哲学知识的新场所。
Newton gave credit to Kepler for a number of ideas but later asserted that he got nothing from Kepler’s work. On the other hand, Kepler shows us how astronomy worked in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. His years of calculating demonstrate the importance of mathematics to the study of the universe, and his place at Rudolph’s court reminds us of this new site of natural philosophical knowledge.
宫廷允许具有实践知识的人(有时是熟练的工匠和数学从业者)与受过大学教育或自学成才的自然哲学家交流。他们将这些不同的想法和兴趣融合在一起,从而为自然知识创造了新的问题和目标。大多数隶属于王室的自然哲学家都因其敏锐的智力和实际应用而声名鹊起。例如,开普勒和约翰·迪分别为鲁道夫和伊丽莎白占星。迪为伊丽莎白的加冕日提供了最吉利的日子,并为寻找西北航道的航海家提供了建议。同样,伽利略作为廷臣的活动既深奥又实用。这些人在理论和实践之间走着一条微妙的界线,因为他们三个人都对大型哲学体系感兴趣,并希望得到宫廷的支持,而不仅仅是为了制造改进的望远镜或新的浑天仪。但君主们想要结果,所有与宫廷有关系的自然界研究者有时不得不跳舞来换取晚餐。因此,对实用性的要求和对那些王侯赞助人感兴趣的话题的搜索改变了自然哲学的方向,从哲学推测转向事物如何运作。
The courts allowed men of practical knowledge, sometimes skilled artisans and mathematical practitioners, to mingle with university-trained or self-taught natural philosophers. They brought together these different ideas and interests and in doing so created new questions and goals for natural knowledge. Most natural philosophers attached to princely courts gained their reputations both for intellectual acuity and for practical applications. For example, Kepler and John Dee cast horoscopes for Rudolf and Elizabeth respectively. Dee advised Elizabeth on the most propitious day for her coronation and consulted with navigators searching for a northwest passage. Likewise, Galileo’s activities as a courtier were both esoteric and applied. These men walked a fine line between theory and practice, since all three were interested in large philosophical systems and desired court patronage not simply for creating improved telescopes or new armillary spheres. But monarchs wanted results, and all investigators of the natural world with court connections were compelled on occasion to dance for their supper. So claims to utility and the search for topics interesting to those princely patrons changed the orientation of natural philosophy away from philosophical speculation toward how things worked.
自然哲学家避免哲学思辨或更传统的教会职位职业道路的一个很好的理由是十六世纪的另一场大动荡——新教改革。虽然针对天主教会各种明显不足的抗议在十五世纪爆发,但马丁·路德在 1517 年坚决反对赎罪券,将天主教会一分为二。就像自然哲学一样,宗教也受到了印刷机的影响——这些赎罪券的印刷充斥市场,使教会的贪婪更加明显,而路德的支持者和反对者印刷的小册子确保了几年内欧洲的每一个角落都了解了这场冲突。
One good reason for natural philosophers to avoid philosophical speculation or the more traditional career path of Church positions was the other huge upheaval of the sixteenth century, the Protestant Reformation. While protests against various perceived inadequacies of the Catholic Church had flared up in the fifteenth century, Martin Luther’s decisive stance in 1517 against indulgences split the Catholic Church in two. Just as with natural philosophy, religion was affected by the printing press – the printing of those indulgences flooded the market and made the venality of the Church more obvious, while the pamphlets printed by Luther’s supporters and detractors ensured that there was not a corner of Europe that didn’t know about the conflict within a few years.
宗教改革改变了自然哲学家们所处的思想、社会和制度世界。天主教会不再垄断真理,真理要么令人感到自由,要么令人感到恐惧,这取决于你的宗教立场。出现了新的职业机会和研究自然可能有用的新地方,例如商人之家、王室宫廷和更世俗的私立学校。尽管宗教分歧双方的领导人都呼吁回归救赎而不是世俗问题,但另类思维和职业的窗口已经打开。
The Reformation changed the intellectual, social, and institutional worlds in which natural philosophers lived. No longer did the Catholic Church have a monopoly on truth, which was either wonderfully liberating or terrifying, depending on your religious position. There were new career possibilities and new places where a study of nature might be useful, such as merchants’ houses, princely courts, and more secular private schools. While leaders on both sides of the religious divide called for a return to salvational concerns rather than secular ones, a window had been opened for alternative thinking and careers.
关于宗教改革对科学的影响,历史学家们一直存在很多争论。一些人指出,在加尔文主义或至少是新教地区,科学的蓬勃发展是新教徒支持科学的证据。另一些人则指出,天主教会对待伽利略的方式表明了“迷信”造成的破坏。近年来,历史学家表明,天主教徒和新教徒都对了解自然世界有着浓厚的兴趣。例如,耶稣会士,尤其是克里斯托弗·克拉维乌斯(1538-1612)和他在罗马学院的学生,是重要的天文学家和数学家。他们帮助将亚里士多德的经院哲学转变为一种新的以数学为基础的宇宙研究。伽利略与耶稣会自然哲学家通信,通过这种互动捍卫和修正他的论点。
There has been much debate among historians as to the effect of the Reformation on science. Some have pointed to the flourishing of science in strongly Calvinist or at least Protestant areas as evidence of the support for science in Protestant attitudes. Others have pointed to the Catholic Church’s treatment of Galileo to show the devastation caused by “superstition.” In recent years, historians have shown that both Catholics and Protestants were deeply interested in understanding the natural world. For example, Jesuits, particularly Christoph Clavius (1538–1612) and his students at the Collegio Romano, were important astronomers and mathematicians. They helped to transform Aristotelian scholasticism in a new mathematically based study of the cosmos. Galileo corresponded with Jesuit natural philosophers, defending and amending his arguments through this interaction.
人们研究自然哲学的动力往往是为了摆脱宗派纷争,通过上帝的著作找到一种崇拜上帝的中间方式。伽利略的危机并不像天主教徒反对科学那样明显。伽利略的现代名声很大一部分来自于他作为“科学捍卫者”的形象。然而,他陷入困境并不是因为他伽利略之所以反对天主教会,是因为他试图调和科学与宗教,但没有成功,而且他的赞助选择也过于冒险。伽利略一生都是虔诚的天主教徒。他认为,他真正的敌人不是教会当局,而是“哲学家”——亚里士多德主义者,他们认为只有他们才有权对世界做出正确的断言。
Often the impetus for people to investigate natural philosophy was a way of removing themselves from sectarian strife, of finding a middle way of worshipping God through his works. The crisis of Galileo was nothing as clear as Catholics against science. A large part of Galileo’s modern fame comes from his image as the “Defender of Science.” However, he got into trouble not because he defied the Catholic Church but rather because he attempted, unsuccessfully, to reconcile science and religion and because his patronage choices proved too risky. All his life Galileo remained a staunch Catholic. He believed that his real enemies were not the Church authorities but “philosophers” – the Aristotelians who argued that only they had the right to make truth claims about the world.
1614 年,伽利略的天文发现引起激烈争论,不久之后,伽利略和哥白尼在讲道坛上遭到攻击。伽利略虽然生病,但仍然加入战斗。他写了一封信,解释了自然和经文之间知识的划分。当这封信落入坏人之手时,他将更长的版本寄给了贝拉明枢机主教,并亲自前往罗马解释情况。贝拉明是一位人文主义者,对伽利略的处境表示同情。虽然一些教士,尤其是多米尼加人,认为地球的运动是无法证明的,但贝拉明认为这是无法证明的。这是一种较为温和的立场,尽管贝拉明极不可能相信可以找到这样的证据。
In 1614, shortly after Galileo’s astronomical discoveries, which had been hotly disputed, Galileo, and with him Copernicus, were attacked from the pulpit. Galileo, although sick, entered the fray. He wrote a letter explaining the division of knowledge between nature and scripture. When this letter fell into the wrong hands, he sent a longer version to Cardinal Bellarmine and went himself to Rome to explain the situation. Bellarmine was a humanist and moderately sympathetic to Galileo’s situation. While some churchmen, especially Dominicans, believed that the motion of the Earth was unprovable, Bellarmine held it to be unproven. This was a softer position, although it is highly unlikely that Bellarmine believed that such a proof could be found.
伽利略决定更清楚地表明自己的立场。在这封早期信件的扩展版《致克里斯蒂娜大公爵夫人的信》中,伽利略声称(效仿奥古斯丁)必须将科学与宗教分开,以维护两者的尊严。他在一个与托马斯·阿奎那完全相反的论点中指出,圣经永远不能用来反驳已经通过观察和正确推理证明的东西;相反,必须重新解释圣经才能考虑到这一点。他提出这个论点并不是反对教会或基督教。相反,他担心天主教自然哲学家的地位会低于新教自然哲学家,而且他的作品中所理解的上帝真正的奇迹不会被观察和解释。伽利略引用了一位早期教父的话,但效果截然不同:“圣灵的意图是教导我们如何进入天堂,而不是天堂如何运行。” 3
Galileo decided to make his position clearer. In an extended version of this earlier letter, the “Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina,” which was written to be circulated, Galileo claimed (following Augustine) that there must be a separation between science and religion in order to maintain the dignity of both. In an argument that stood Thomas Aquinas on his head, he argued that scripture can never be used to disprove something that has been proved by observation and right reasoning; rather, scripture must be reinterpreted to take this into account. He did not make this argument against the Church or Christianity. Instead, he was concerned that Catholic natural philosophers would lose status to Protestant ones and that the true wonders of God, as understood in his work, would not be observed and interpreted. Galileo quoted an early Church father, to very different effect: “That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how heaven goes.”3
伽利略之所以采取这种冒险的公开立场,部分原因是他对天主教会的忠诚,以及他希望在意大利建立一个强大的自然哲学社区。同样,这也可以看作是他希望得到教皇的关注,因为教皇是他的支持者。如果客户希望成功,就必须冒险保持客户的知名度。所以他发起了攻势。听到传言说他的信和哥白尼的作品都即将被列入索引(由于《天主教会禁书目录》 (Index Librorum Prohibitorum)禁止虔诚的天主教徒阅读,伽利略再次前往罗马,寻求与教皇保罗五世的会面。但他却与贝拉明会面,教皇指示他停止研究哥白尼理论。教皇法庭的判决是,该理论“在哲学上是愚蠢和荒谬的”,并于 1616 年颁布了一项禁令,告知伽利略他不再持有或捍卫哥白尼理论。
Galileo took this risky and public stand in part because of his loyalty to the Catholic Church and his desire for a strong natural philosophical community in Italy. Equally, this could be seen as a move to be noticed by the pope to whom he was looking for patronage. A client had to take risks to maintain client visibility if he hoped to be successful. So he went on the offensive. Hearing rumors that both his Letter and the works of Copernicus were about to be placed on the Index (the Catholic Church’s Index Librorum Prohibitorum or List of Prohibited Books) and therefore unavailable for good Catholics to read, Galileo went once again to Rome to seek an audience with the pope, Paul V. Instead, he had a meeting with Bellarmine, at which he was instructed to stop work on the Copernican theory. The judgment of the papal tribunal was that this theory was “foolish and absurd in philosophy,” and an Interdict was produced in 1616, which told Galileo that he was no longer to hold or defend the Copernican theory.
1623 年,天空中出现了三颗新彗星,伽利略再次被天文学所吸引。与此同时,保罗五世去世,取而代之的是人文主义教皇乌尔班八世。伽利略以为自己在教皇中找到了盟友,于 1624 年拜访了乌尔班八世,请求允许他撰写有关哥白尼体系的文章。他没有提到早先的禁令。伽利略离开会场时,相信他已获得许可以假设的方式撰写这篇文章。最终,事实并非如此。
In 1623 three new comets appeared in the heavens, and Galileo was drawn once again to astronomy. In the meantime Paul V had died, and in his place was a humanistic pope, Urban VIII. Galileo, thinking he had an ally in the papacy, visited Urban VIII in 1624, asking to be allowed to write about the Copernican system. He neglected to mention the earlier Interdict. Galileo left the audience believing he had received permission to write about it in a hypothetical manner. Ultimately, this turned out not to be the case.
1620 年代,伽利略开始为哥白尼主义辩护,并撰写了《关于两大世界体系的对话》(1632 年)。对话的形式使他能够提出双方的观点(托勒密和哥白尼),而无需明确选择其中一方,但由于支持托勒密体系的人物名叫辛普利西奥,因此不难看出伽利略的倾向。他用潮汐理论来证明地球的运动,从而证明哥白尼学说。尽管该理论完全是错误的,无法说服任何人,但它向读者表明,伽利略确实在捍卫哥白尼主义,从而违反了 1616 年的禁令,该禁令禁止持有哥白尼体系是已证实的事实的观点。如果这还不够,教皇认为他本人被伽利略出卖了。
In the 1620s Galileo began to develop his defense of Copernicanism, resulting in The Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632). The dialogue form allowed him to present both sides of the argument (Ptolemaic and Copernican) without definitively choosing one, but since the character espousing the Ptolemaic system was named Simplicio, it was not hard to see Galileo’s inclination. He used his theory of the tides as a proof of the motion of the Earth and, hence, of the Copernican doctrine. Although the theory was quite wrongheaded and convinced no one, it demonstrated to those reading the book that Galileo was indeed defending Copernicanism and so breaking the Interdict of 1616, which prohibited holding the view that the Copernican system was a proven fact. If that was not enough, the pope believed he had been personally betrayed by Galileo.
1632 年,伽利略被传唤到罗马宗教裁判所,1633 年,伽利略抵达罗马后,宗教裁判所对他进行了审判。审判的焦点是伽利略是否被命令不得教授哥白尼体系。伽利略说,这不是教皇办公室给他的禁令文件的一部分,而是他被告知不能坚持该体系是真理,而所有天主教徒都被要求相信该体系是真理。宗教裁判所表示,伽利略,而且只有伽利略,被告知他不能坚持、教授或以任何方式捍卫哥白尼理论。这份文件要么是伪造的,要么是教皇指令的未发布草案。因此,这不是科学与宗教的审判,而是对教会服从的问题。宗教裁判所判定伽利略违抗了命令,并有效地让他噤声。他被终身软禁。他重新开始研究力学,写了他最杰出的作品《两门新科学》,也是以对话的形式写成的。由于天主教徒不被允许出版他的任何作品,手稿被偷运到新教荷兰。他的所有作品,尤其是两篇对话,都非常受欢迎,并被翻译成多种语言。
Galileo was called before the Roman Inquisition in 1632, and the trial took place in 1633, after he arrived in Rome. The trial revolved around whether Galileo had been ordered not to teach the Copernican system. Galileo said that wasn’t part of the Interdict document he had received from the papal office but, rather, that he had been told he could not hold the system to be true, which was what all Catholics were enjoined to believe. The Inquisition stated that Galileo, and Galileo alone, had been told he could neither hold, teach, nor in any way defend the Copernican theory. This came from a document that was either a forgery or an unissued draft of a papal directive. Thus, this was not a trial of science versus religion but a matter of obedience to the Church. The Inquisition judged that Galileo had disobeyed, and they effectively silenced him. He was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. He returned to his study of mechanics and wrote his most brilliant work, The Two New Sciences, also written as a dialogue. Since no Catholic was allowed to publish any of his work, the manuscript was smuggled out to the Protestant Netherlands. All his work, especially the two dialogues, became very popular and were translated into several languages.
伽利略的沉默和科学工作向欧洲新教地区的转移,让一些历史学家认为新教更有利于科学。从总体上看,这是有问题的,因为自然哲学家在法国继续蓬勃发展,特别是在耶稣会内部,而新教宗教领袖往往比天主教徒更反对研究自然。然而,在追求实用性方面,自然知识被视为对商业、帝国建设国家有用,新教地区更愿意将科学作为一门学科。他们强调自然的合理性和简单性,尽管这并非新教所独有,但自然哲学家也在寻找最简单的答案。新教徒强调知识应该是有用的,无论是为了人类的进步还是为了救赎,自然哲学家经常将他们的研究导向具有实用性(或声称具有实用性)的主题。新教徒认为上帝赐予他们地球,让他们充分开发,而开发成为科学的基本意识形态。清教徒和加尔文教徒相信个人见证和经验;科学方法越来越多地采用实验。个人可以通过私人学习找到通往上帝的道路这一想法在科学中得到了证实。选举和职业理论不仅导致了自然研究者更纯粹、更高级的观念,甚至导致了对科学家的崇拜。新教徒拒绝教会传统;新科学拒绝亚里士多德科学传统。最后,加尔文主义和清教主义尤其吸引了城市商业阶层,这些人对探索、航海、天文学和数学问题感兴趣,而这些问题将成为新科学的突破。
The silencing of Galileo and the shift of scientific work to Protestant areas of Europe have suggested to some historians that Protestantism was more conducive to science. This is problematic in general terms, since natural philosophers continued to flourish in France, particularly within the Jesuit order, while Protestant religious leaders were often far more antagonistic to the study of nature than Catholics. In terms of the pursuit of utility, however, where knowledge of nature was seen as useful for mercantile, empire-building nations, the Protestant regions were far more willing to pursue science as a study. The whole idea of the reasonableness and simplicity of nature, although not exclusive to Protestantism, was emphasized by them, and natural philosophers also looked for the simplest answer. Protestants emphasized the idea that knowledge should be useful, either for human betterment or salvation, and natural philosophers often directed their studies to topics that had utility (or claimed it). Protestants felt that God had given them the Earth to exploit to its full extent, and exploitation became an underlying ideology of science. Puritans and Calvinists believed in personal witnessing and experience; scientific methodology increasingly employed experiment. The idea that the individual could find his own way to God through private study was borne out in science. Theories of election and vocation led not only to the idea of the investigator of nature as purer and higher but even to the cult of the scientist. Protestants rejected Church traditions; the New Science rejected traditions of Aristotelian science. Finally, Calvinism and Puritanism, especially, appealed to the urban mercantile classes, those people interested in the questions of exploration, navigation, astronomy, and mathematics, which would be the breakthroughs of the New Science.
4.13伽利略《关于两大世界体系的对话》卷首插图(1632 年)
4.13 FRONTISPIECE FROM GALILEO’S DIALOGUE CONCERNING THE TWO CHIEF WORLD SYSTEMS (1632)
关于新教徒控制区和天主教徒控制区对自然哲学的追求的争论,更多的是关于冲突所创造的思想空间,而不是自然哲学与宗教的直接关系。虽然天主教的统治阶层可能压制了伽利略,但对自然的研究仍然很重要。路德强烈反对哥白尼主义,但这并不意味着新教徒放弃了天文学。如果人们能够像新教徒一样质疑宗教信仰的本质,那么从理智上讲,无论是新教徒还是天主教徒,似乎都没有什么问题超出界限。对于一小部分人来说,自然哲学似乎提供了一种崇拜上帝的“第三种方式”,在这个世界中,世俗权威不可靠,宗教权威饱受分歧和不确定性的折磨。自然是始终如一的,不像君主、教皇和牧师的宣言。
The arguments made about the pursuit of natural philosophy in the regions controlled by Protestants and those controlled by Catholics are less about the direct relationship of natural philosophy to religion and more about the intellectual space created by the conflict. While the Catholic hierarchy may have silenced Galileo, the study of nature remained important. Luther vehemently rejected Copernicanism, but it did not follow that Protestants abandoned astronomy. If people could question the very nature of religious faith as the Protestants did, then intellectually no question seemed out of bounds, whether for Protestants or Catholics. For a small group of people, natural philosophy seemed to offer a “third way” of worshipping God in a world where secular authority was unreliable and religious authority was wracked by dissension and uncertainty. Nature was consistent, unlike the pronouncements of monarchs, popes, and priests.
教育是自然哲学家认为重要的另一个主要机构,在近代早期的欧洲,教育正在迅速变化。以前,教育主要是教会的事务。大多数学校由教会资助,许多校长都是神职人员。从 15 世纪中叶开始,世俗对教育的兴趣开始上升,首先是在意大利,后来蔓延到整个欧洲。教育的目标不再仅仅是教会的职业;政府办公室、秘书职位,以及最终的绅士文化和赞助可能性都为实现一定程度的教育提供了新的激励。与此同时,新教改革为教育和识字带来了新的动力,这既是因为新教徒主张个人和本地圣经阅读的重要性,也是因为天主教会通过教育策略作出了部分回应。因此,教育成为更广泛人群的迫切需要。
Education, the other principal institution important for natural philosophers, was rapidly changing in early modern Europe. Previously, education had been largely an ecclesiastical concern. Most schools were sponsored by the Church, and many schoolmasters were clerics. From the mid-fifteenth century on, secular interest in education began to rise, first in Italy and later throughout Europe. The goal of education ceased to be only a career in the Church; government offices, secretarial positions, and eventually gentry culture and patronage possibilities all provided new incentives for achieving a certain level of education. At the same time the Protestant Reformation produced a new impetus for education and literacy, both because Protestants argued for the importance of personal and vernacular Bible reading and because the Catholic Church responded, in part, through educational strategies. Thus, education became a desideratum for a wider sector of the population.
相当一部分人受过良好的教育,在近代早期,这些受过良好教育的男性越来越多地占据社会、政治和经济权力的位置。此外,一些男性和女性自学成才,或者终其一生都在非正式的基础上继续接受教育。由于教育货币市场日益壮大,大学等机构开发了非正式课程,专门为那些对有资质的职业不感兴趣的人设计。即使是医学等更传统的学科也开始寻求知识的更大应用性。其他类型的学院在欧洲各地兴起,以满足专业学习的需求。自助书籍变得越来越受欢迎,教育企业家(无论是人文主义者还是数学从业者)开始通过个人课程和书籍出售他们的教育产品。因此,这个早期现代时期见证了整个欧洲统治阶层的教育地位的变化,尤其是在北部和西部,因此对受过教育的顾问和信息本身的需求也发生了变化。在这种气氛下,所研究科目的实用性变得重要。
A significant minority were very well educated, and increasingly during the early modern period these well-educated men were in positions of social, political, and economic power. As well, some men and women were self-taught or continued their education on an informal basis throughout their lives. Because of this increasing market for educational currency, institutions such as the universities developed less formal curricula, designed for those not interested in a credentialed profession. Even the more traditional subjects such as medicine began to look toward greater applicability of their knowledge. Other kinds of academies sprang up all over Europe to cater to specialized learning. Self-help books became more and more popular, and educational entrepreneurs, both humanists and others such as mathematical practitioners, began to sell their educational wares through individual lessons and books. Thus, this early modern period witnessed a change in the status of education among the governing classes across Europe, especially in the north and west, and thus in the demand for both educated advisors and information itself. In this climate, the utility of the subjects studied became important.
安德烈亚斯·维萨里 (1514-64) 在这所新大学里接受培训并从事他的事业,他深受人文主义的影响。维萨里出生于布鲁塞尔,父亲是查理五世皇帝的药剂师。1530年,他进入鲁汶大学学习,然后搬到巴黎攻读医学学位。1537 年,他进入以医学院闻名的帕多瓦大学学习。他几乎立刻就获得了医学博士学位,并成为一名解剖学讲师,这是一个地位相当低下的职业。他坚持亲自进行解剖,引起了轰动。这几乎是闻所未闻的,因为解剖学讲师传统上会阅读盖伦的著作,而他们的助手会指出相关部位。维萨里很快就开始周游意大利和欧洲其他地区进行公开解剖。他很快发现传统盖伦解剖学存在问题,因为它与他所看到的不符。这一观察之所以可能,是因为他亲自与尸体进行了互动。 1543 年,他在《人体构造》一书中,维萨里发表了他与盖伦的分歧结果、一种新方法和一种新哲学。维萨里写了一本精彩的书,并在过程中推翻了盖伦的许多观点。
Andreas Vesalius (1514–64) was trained and pursued his career in this new university structure, and he was influenced by humanism. Born in Brussels, Vesalius was the son of an apothecary of the Emperor Charles V. In 1530 he attended the University of Louvain and then moved to Paris to pursue a medical degree. In 1537 he enrolled at the University of Padua, renowned for its medical school. Almost immediately he received his Doctor of Medicine Degree and became an anatomy lecturer, a rather low-status occupation. He caused a sensation by insisting on performing dissections himself. This was almost unheard of, as anatomy lecturers traditionally had read from Galen while their assistant pointed to the pertinent parts. Vesalius soon began traveling around Italy and the rest of Europe performing public dissections. He rapidly found problems with the traditional Galenic anatomy, since it did not correspond to what he was seeing. This observation was possible only because of his personal interaction with the bodies. In 1543 he published the results of his disagreements with Galen, a new method, and a new philosophy in De Humani Corporis Fabrica (The Fabric of the Human Body). Vesalius produced a beautiful book and in the process disproved a number of Galen’s ideas.
4.14来自维萨里的骨骼和肌肉男人,DE HUMANI CORPORIS FABRICA (1543)
4.14 BONE AND MUSCLE MEN FROM VESALIUS, DE HUMANI CORPORIS FABRICA (1543)
维萨里表明,肝脏并非分为五叶而是一个整体,男人并非少一根肋骨而女人并非多一根,神经并非空心,骨骼是人体的动态基础。他首次以理性、有条不紊的方式描绘了肌肉。然而,他最大的成就或许是他的方法。他从人文主义开始,因为他比较了盖伦的不同文本,以找出最纯粹、最不腐败的文本。在质疑了文本之后,他又回到了它的源头——人体。然后,他进行观察,认为亲身体验是自然研究者的基础。维萨里不依赖权威,而是为所有想要成为解剖学家的人开出了亲身解剖的处方。当然,这里有一个讽刺之处,因为维萨里的书很快就获得了与他所嘲笑的盖伦相同的权威水平!
Vesalius showed that the liver was not five-lobed but one mass, that men did not have one less rib and women one more, that nerves were not hollow, and that bones were a dynamic foundation of the human body. For the first time he pictured the muscles in a rational methodical way. Perhaps his greatest achievement, however, was his method. He began with humanism, since he compared alternate texts of Galen in order to find the purest and least corrupted. Once he had questioned the text, he turned back to its source, the human body. He then used observation, seeing personal experience as fundamental for the natural investigator. Rather than relying on authority, Vesalius prescribed first-hand dissection for all would-be anatomists. There is, of course, an irony here, since Vesalius’s book soon achieved the same level of authority he had derided in Galen!
同样重要的是,维萨里的解剖不是在封闭的学术论坛上进行的,而是在公众场合进行的。他帮助确立了公开演示和见证作为自然科学的重要组成部分。正如《解剖学》的卷首插图所示,人体知识的获得是因为每个人都亲眼目睹,但又在一起,并且都对他们所看到的东西达成了一致。(见图4.15。)这种将公开演示作为知识和事实的创造,以及需要一群志同道合的人就结论达成一致的想法,成为了十七世纪及以后科学实践和论述的必要因素。
Equally important, Vesalius’s dissections were not done in a closed academic forum but in public. He helped to establish public demonstration and witnessing as an important part of natural science. As the frontispiece to De fabrica shows, the knowledge of the human body was gained because everyone saw personally, yet together, and all agreed on what they had seen. (See figure 4.15.) This idea of public demonstration as the creation of knowledge, of matters of fact, and the need to have a group of like-minded individuals to agree on closure, became a necessary ingredient to scientific practice and discourse in the seventeenth century and beyond.
4.15维萨里的《DE HUMANI CORPORIS FABRICA》首页(1543)
4.15 FRONTISPIECE FROM VESALIUS’S DE HUMANI CORPORIS FABRICA (1543)
自然哲学作为一项在公共场所、大学、法院、商铺和仪器制造店内开展的事业,是文艺复兴和近代早期的一项创新。具有讽刺意味的是,古代知识的重新发现和印刷让近代早期的学者们可以声称他们现在正在开发新知识,而不是保存现有知识。不断变化的社会、政治和宗教世界为这些学者提供了研究自然的新场所,也为他们的任务的世俗效用提供了新的主张。这一时期的所有自然哲学家都认为,研究自然就是研究上帝的工作,这是一项神圣的任务,但他们同样认为,这项事业的意义牢牢扎根于当下,目的是改善人类或个人进步(也可能两者兼而有之)。在一个伟大的冒险和发现时代,西欧,尤其是大西洋沿岸的国家,开始相信无限进步的可能性。难道他们不是已经超越了古人,哥伦布的航行探索了地球,伽利略的望远镜探索了天空?这些文雅的自然哲学家是富有创造力和行动力的人,而不是严肃的学术神学家。这让他们的态度和科学的面貌发生了巨大的变化。
The establishment of natural philosophy as an enterprise to be conducted in public, in the universities, the courts, the merchant halls, and the instrument makers’ shops was an innovation of the Renaissance and early modern period. The rediscovery and printing of ancient knowledge had, ironically, allowed early modern scholars to claim that they were now developing new knowledge rather than conserving what existed. The changing social, political, and religious world gave these scholars new venues to investigate nature and new claims to the secular utility of their task. All natural philosophers of this period believed that to study nature was to study God’s work and that this was a sacred task, but equally they believed that the point of this enterprise was firmly rooted in the present, with the goal of human betterment or personal advancement (and maybe both). In an era of great adventure and discovery, Western Europe, especially those countries on the Atlantic, began to believe in the possibility of boundless progress. Had they not already surpassed the ancients in exploration of the Earth with Columbus’s voyages and of the heavens with Galileo’s telescope? The courtly natural philosophers were men of creativity and action, not austere and academic theologians. This made all the difference to their attitudes and to the face of science.
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1.1454年,普鲁士王国受波兰王室管辖,但1772年成为普鲁士的一部分。第二次世界大战后,普鲁士王国回归波兰。
1. Royal Prussia became subject to the authority of the Polish Crown in 1454 but became part of Prussia in 1772. It returned to Poland after World War II.
2.约翰尼斯·开普勒,《星历表献给纳皮尔勋爵》(1620 年),载于《世界的和谐》,引自亚瑟·库斯勒的《梦游者》(伦敦:企鹅出版社,1959 年),第 398 页。
2. Johannes Kepler, Dedication of the Ephemerides (1620) to Lord Napier, in Harmonies of the World, as quoted in Arthur Koestler, The Sleepwalkers (London: Penguin, 1959), 398.
3.伽利略·伽利莱,《致大公爵夫人克里斯蒂娜的信,1615 年》,摘自《伽利略的发现与观点》,斯蒂尔曼·德雷克主编(纽约:Doubleday Anchor Books,1957 年),第 186 页。
3. Galileo Galilei, “Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, 1615” in Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo, ed. Stillman Drake (New York: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1957), 186.
从 1543 年到 1687 年,一些科学巨人生活、思考自然世界,并奠定了现代科学的基础。鉴于这一时期的成就,难怪历史学家对科学革命时代的想法感到苦恼。事实上,二十世纪的科学史学科首先关注的是现代科学的起源问题。该学科的一些创始人的工作集中于这一重要转变是什么以及它是如何发生的。近年来,历史学家开始质疑这样的革命是否真的发生过。显然,答案取决于如何定义革命和科学:是思想的逐渐转变、格式塔转换还是社会学创新。我们认为,在对自然世界的研究中发生了转变,其中新思想、方法、参与者、目标和意识形态相互竞争,以在发展中的民族国家中扮演新的世俗化角色。这确实是一场科学革命。
From 1543 to 1687 some of the giants of science lived, contemplated the natural world, and produced the underpinnings of modern science. Given the accomplishments of the period, it is no wonder that historians have agonized about the idea of an era of scientific revolution. Indeed, the twentieth-century discipline of the history of science began by focusing on the problem of the origin of modern science. The work of some of the discipline’s founders concentrated on what this important transformation was and how it came to take place. In recent years, historians have begun to question whether such a revolution happened at all. Obviously, the answer depends on how revolution and science are defined: whether there was a gradual transformation of ideas, a gestalt switch, or a sociological innovation. We argue that there was a transformation in the investigation of the natural world, in which new ideas, methods, actors, aims, and ideologies vied with one another for a newly secularized role in the developing nation-states. This, indeed, was a scientific revolution.
科学革命可以理解为一系列相互重叠的创新,这些创新对现代科学的诞生都至关重要。首先,自然哲学家接受了古人的认识论挑战,并开发了一种揭示自然世界真相的新方法。其次,在许多不同领域,特别是在物理学、天文学和数学领域,开发了新的宇宙理论模型。此外,那些对自然研究感兴趣的人成立了新的机构和组织,开始执行现在主要是世俗的任务,即评估科学事实并确定可以成为自然哲学家。最后,也许最重要的是,对自然的根本真理感兴趣的人发展出了一种新的实用和开发意识形态,一种新的科学实践结构,以及一群绅士风度的科学家,他们将自己的社会行为标准应用于现代科学的意识形态。
The scientific revolution can be understood as a series of overlapping innovations, all important in the creation of modern science. First, natural philosophers took up the epistemological challenges of the ancients and developed a new methodology for uncovering the truth about the natural world. Second, in many different areas, but particularly in physics, astronomy, and mathematics, new theoretical models of the universe were developed. Further, those interested in the investigation of nature formed new institutions and organizations that began to perform the now largely secular tasks of evaluating scientific fact and determining who could be a natural philosopher. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, men interested in the underlying truths of nature developed a new ideology of utility and exploitation, a new structure for scientific practice, and a gentlemanly coterie of scientists who applied their social standards of behavior to the ideology of modern science.
古代自然哲学家的重新发现和 16 世纪对这些古代知识的挑战,促使 16 和 17 世纪的学者转向如何确定真假的认识论问题。也许是受到 16 世纪宗教动乱的刺激,哲学家们开始提出至今对我们仍然至关重要的问题:我们如何知道什么是真实的?这导致了一种新的科学探究形式——一种新的“科学方法”——以及一种表达这种确定性探索的新方式的发展。在英国,这种方法在弗朗西斯·培根爵士 (1561-1626) 的著作中得到了最充分的阐述。培根本人虽然不是自然哲学家,但他在《新工具论》(1620 年)和《新亚特兰蒂斯》(1627 年)中提出了对自然哲学的改革。这项改革计划是改变所有知识(尤其是法律知识和道德哲学)的宏伟计划的一部分。培根认为,人类的所有知识都是有缺陷的,因为每个人都有偶像。偶像是人类观察世界的偏见和先入为主的观念。培根认为,自然哲学家摆脱这些偶像的唯一方法是观察自然界中微小而分散的部分。要确保理解这些小部分,唯一的方法是在受控的环境中研究它们,远离更大的(不受控制的)环境。利用这一假设,他引入了后来被称为归纳法的方法。他建议,可以由大量调查人员收集增量信息,将其汇总成表格,并由精英解释人员进行解释。
The rediscoveries of ancient natural philosophers and the challenges to that ancient knowledge in the sixteenth century caused scholars in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to turn to the epistemological question of how to determine truth from falsity. Perhaps spurred on by the religious turmoil of the sixteenth century, philosophers began to ask the question still fundamental to us today: How can we know what is true? This led to the development of a new form of scientific inquiry – a new “scientific method” – and a new way of articulating this search for certainty. In England this methodology was most fully articulated in the writing of Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626). Bacon, although not himself a natural philosopher, proposed a reform of natural philosophy in the Novum Organum (1620) and The New Atlantis (1627). This program of reform was part of a grander scheme to transform all knowledge, especially legal knowledge and moral philosophy. Bacon believed that all human knowledge was flawed because of the Idols that all men carried with them. The Idols were the prejudices and preconceived ideas through which human beings observed the world. Bacon felt that the only way for natural philosophers to disabuse themselves of these Idols was to look at small, discrete bits of nature. The only way to be certain one understood these small bits was to study them in a controlled setting, isolated from the larger (uncontrolled) environment. Using this assumption, he introduced what has come to be called the inductive method. He suggested that increments of information could be gathered by armies of investigators, put together in tabular form, and explained by an elite cadre of interpreters.
培根在《新亚特兰蒂斯》中被称为“所罗门之家”的部分中描述了这一点。他的方法论虽然看起来比早期的经院方法更民主,但它提出了一种由一小群精英控制真理和知识的方法,由他们决定可以研究什么以及哪些答案是可以接受的。他这种态度可能受到了他培根接受过律师培训,其政治生涯大部分时间担任伊丽莎白一世的顾问,后来担任詹姆斯一世的大法官。因此,他习惯于在法庭的公开场所测试证据。作为最关注叛国和异端的人,他不信任自由思想,并认为思想应该由那些作为英联邦和平与安全的守护者的人来控制,因为他们的地位最能保证其可信度。培根作为大法官的工作之一包括监督酷刑的使用,因为在那个时代,通过酷刑获得的证据被认为是可靠的。对培根来说,知识就是力量,因此了解自然非常重要,正是因为这种知识具有实际应用。在很多方面,培根都是一位宫廷哲学家,因此伽利略如此擅长的功利性修辞也出现在他的著作中。
Bacon described this in a section of The New Atlantis known as “Solomon’s House.” His methodology, although it appeared to be more democratic than earlier scholastic methods, proposed a means of controlling truth and knowledge by a small elite group who determined what could be studied and what answers were acceptable. In this attitude, he was probably influenced by the fact that he was trained as a lawyer and that he spent much of his political career as an advisor to Elizabeth I and then as Lord Chancellor for James I. He was thus accustomed to the idea of testing evidence in the public venue of a court. As the person most concerned with treason and heresy, he had a distrust of free-thinking and believed that ideas should be controlled by those whose position as custodians of the peace and security of the commonwealth best assured their credibility. One aspect of Bacon’s job as Lord Chancellor included overseeing the use of torture in an age when evidence obtained by torture was considered reliable. For Bacon, knowledge was power, and thus an understanding of nature was important precisely because of the practical applications such knowledge would have. In many ways Bacon was a courtly philosopher, so the rhetoric of utility so well employed by Galileo was also present in his work.
这种方法在欧洲大陆受到了勒内·笛卡尔及其追随者的挑战,他们更喜欢基于怀疑论的演绎风格。笛卡尔和培根一样,出身于权贵家庭,受过律师培训。与培根不同,他是一名数学教师和实践者,而不是朝臣,尽管最终,赞助的诱惑战胜了靠智慧生活的挣扎。1649 年,53 岁的笛卡尔是当时最著名的哲学家,他接受了瑞典女王克里斯蒂娜的宫廷哲学家职位。这是一个利润丰厚的职位,就像美第奇家族对伽利略的赞助一样,以金钱支持和地位为交换,以美化克里斯蒂娜的宫廷并提供哲学服务。不幸的是,笛卡尔的健康状况不佳,克里斯蒂娜利用他的哲学服务的想法是让他每周三次在早上五点拜访她,指导她。冬天还没过完,他就因肺炎去世了。瑞典人把他的遗体送回法国,但留下了他的头颅。这导致法国和瑞典之间近 200 年的紧张关系,直到 1809 年,瑞典化学家贝采利乌斯设法弄到了笛卡尔的头骨,并将其归还给法国科学家居维叶,后者将其与遗体重新结合。
This methodology was challenged on the continent by René Descartes and his followers, who preferred a deductive style based on skepticism. Descartes, like Bacon, came from an influential family and was trained as a lawyer. Unlike Bacon, he worked as a mathematics teacher and practitioner, rather than as a courtier, although in the end the temptation for patronage overcame the struggle involved in living by one’s wits. In 1649 Descartes, at the age of 53 the most famous philosopher of his time, accepted the post of Court Philosopher to Queen Christina of Sweden. This was a lucrative post that, like the patronage of the Medicis for Galileo, offered both financial support and status in exchange for glorifying Christina’s court and providing philosophical services. Unfortunately for Descartes, whose health was poor, Christina’s idea of using his philosophical services was to have him call on her three times a week at five in the morning to instruct her. He was dead of pneumonia before the winter was over. The Swedes sent his body back to France but kept his head. This led to low-grade tension between France and Sweden for close to 200 years, until in 1809 the Swedish chemist Berzelius somehow managed to get Descartes’s skull and return it to the French scientist Cuvier, who reunited it with the body.
在《方法论》(1637 年)中,笛卡尔提出了亚里士多德认识论体系的第一个早期现代替代方案:怀疑论方法。他从怀疑一切开始,剥离所有知识层面,直到他得出他所知道的一件事情是真的:作为一个思考、怀疑的存在,他必须存在才能思考怀疑的想法。他将这个想法概括在著名的宣言“我思故我在”中:我思故我在。从这个出发点,他通过从第一原理演绎得出了一系列他知道是不言而喻的普遍真理。这种演绎方法的起源几何证明,从一组确定的前提或公理开始,然后进行更复杂的条件。有趣的是,尽管笛卡尔使用了这个数学模型并发展了新的数学方法,但他的大多数科学理论都明显是非数学的。此外,他对使用实验作为发现自然知识的手段不感兴趣。由于感官可能会被愚弄,正确的推理在自然哲学辩论中比任何粗略的实验或演示更可靠。
In A Discourse on Method (1637) Descartes offered the first early modern alternative to Aristotle’s epistemological system: his method of skepticism. He began by doubting everything, peeling away all layers of knowledge until he came to the one thing he knew was true: that as a thinking, doubting being, he must exist in order to think the doubting thought. He encapsulated this idea in the famous declaration Cogito ergo sum: I think, therefore I am. From this starting point he developed through deduction from first principles a series of universal truths that he knew to be self-evident. This deductive method owed its origins to geometric proof, which starts with a small set of sure premises or axioms and proceeds to more complex conditions. Interestingly, although Descartes used this mathematical model and developed new mathematical methodology, most of his scientific theories were explicitly nonmathematical. Also, he was not interested in using experimentation as a means to discover knowledge about nature. Since the senses could be fooled, right reasoning was a much more reliable arbiter in natural philosophical debate than any crude experiment or demonstration might be.
在确定性让位于概率的时代,培根和笛卡尔都试图找到能够产生确定性知识的推理方式。培根以一种谨慎、保守的方式回答了我们如何知道什么是真理的问题,涉及一种知识等级制度,表面上是一个学者的民主共和国。笛卡尔以一种个人主义的反社群方式回答了这个问题,这种方式赋予了个人思想家更多的权力,但最终并没有创建一个学者社区。
Both Bacon and Descartes attempted to find ways of reasoning that would produce certain knowledge in an age where certainty was giving way to probability. Bacon answered the question of how we can know what is true in a careful, conservative way, involving a hierarchy of knowledge made to appear as a democratic republic of scholars. Descartes answered in an individualistic anti-communal way, which gave more power to individual thinkers but did not, in the final analysis, create a community of scholars.
这种新方法论及其关于可靠和可靠知识的争论导致的一个结果是,数学作为自然哲学语言逐渐占据主导地位。伽利略坚信上帝用数字、尺寸和重量创造了世界,许多其他对自然感兴趣的学者也表达了同样的看法。对亚里士多德来说,称量或测量一种物质并不能告诉你任何有关它有趣的东西,但对于那些在 16 和 17 世纪研究自然的人来说,知道某物有多重或某物运动的速度比寻找最终原因是更可靠的知识。他们声称他们只是测量和观察,而不是强加他们试图证明的基本假设。例如,艾萨克·牛顿爵士有句名言Hypotheses non fingo:我不假装任何假设。继伽利略和牛顿之后,自然哲学家越来越多地通过测量而不是分析原因来寻找确定性。
One result of this new methodology with its debate about reliable and sure knowledge was the gradual ascendancy of mathematics as the language of natural philosophy. Galileo had been convinced that God created the world in number, measure, and weight, and many other scholars interested in nature echoed this sentiment. For Aristotle, weighing or measuring a substance did not tell you anything interesting about it, but for those investigating nature in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, knowing how heavy something was or how fast something went was surer knowledge than searching for final causes. They claimed that they only measured and observed rather than imposed underlying hypotheses they sought to prove. Sir Isaac Newton, for example, famously said Hypotheses non fingo: I feign no hypotheses. Following Galileo and Newton, natural philosophers increasingly looked for certainty through measurement rather than the analysis of cause.
数学的重大发展包括代数的重新发现和微积分的发展;此外,还设计了新的、更简单的符号系统。例如,笛卡尔发明了使用a、b和c表示已知变量,使用x、y和z表示未知变量。数学家们使用这些系统来相互竞争以求得越来越复杂的代数方程的解。解析几何的创立主要由笛卡尔发起,弗朗索瓦·维达(1540-1603)和皮埃尔·德·费马(1601-65)也参与其中。解析几何为数学家和自然哲学家提供了强有力的工具。通过结合几何和代数,人们可以将几何对象转化为方程,反之亦然。这也为数学化自然打开了大门,因为从炮弹的轨迹到树叶的形状,一切都可以转化为数学表达式。
Significant mathematical developments included the rediscovery of algebra and the development of the calculus; in addition, new and easier notation systems were devised. For example, Descartes instituted the use of a, b, and c for known variables and x, y, and z for unknowns. Mathematicians used these systems as they vied with one another for solutions to increasingly complex algebraic equations. The creation of analytic geometry, primarily by Descartes but also by François Viète (1540–1603) and Pierre de Fermat (1601–65), placed a powerful tool in the hands of mathematicians and natural philosophers. By combining geometry and algebra, it became possible to transform geometric objects into equations and vice versa. This also opened the door to mathematizing nature, as everything from the trajectory of a cannonball to the shape of a leaf could be turned into a mathematical expression.
反过来,数学家们开始寻找新的方法来测量曲线下的面积并描述动态情况。结果就是微积分的发明,它由英国的艾萨克·牛顿和欧洲大陆的戈特弗里德·威廉·莱布尼茨(1646-1716)独立开发。微积分将曲线下无限小的面积相加,或以公式形式描述曲线的形状。这使得自然哲学家能够准确地描述动态情况,例如速度和加速度运动,这是旧几何和代数系统无法做到的。一些数学家担心微积分的哲学含义,因为它通过无限量的相加得出有限的答案,而无限小和无限大可能自相矛盾地相等。然而,在一个越来越关注数学的实际应用和效用的时代,微积分被证明是一种极其富有成效的工具,并很快被科学界所接受。
In turn, mathematicians began to look for new ways to measure areas under curves and to describe dynamic situations. The result was the invention of the calculus, independently developed by Isaac Newton in England and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) on the continent. The calculus added infinitely small areas together under a curve or described the shape of the curve in formulaic terms. This allowed natural philosophers to accurately describe dynamic situations such as velocity and the motion of acceleration, something not possible with the older geometric and algebraic systems. Some mathematicians were concerned with the philosophical implications of the calculus, since it produced finite answers from the addition of infinite quantities, and the infinitely small and the infinitely large could, paradoxically, be equal. However, in an age that increasingly looked to the practical applications and utility of mathematics, the calculus proved to be an extremely fruitful device and was quickly taken up by the scientific community.
莱布尼茨是一位颇具影响力的德国博学者,曾接受过律师培训,一生中大部分时间受雇于几位德国王子,尤其是三位汉诺威公爵。不幸的是,他与乔治·路德维希公爵 (1660-1727) 的关系恶化,当路德维希成为英国国王乔治一世时,莱布尼茨被禁止入境。他对笛卡尔和牛顿的工作都持批评态度,并与牛顿就谁先发明了微积分展开了激烈的争论。这场争论由德国的莱布尼茨和英国的塞缪尔·克拉克 (1675-1729) 进行,是 17 和 18 世纪最著名的哲学争论之一,因为它涉及牛顿的自然哲学和神学问题。最后,参与者都死了,问题从未得到解决。现在看来,牛顿和莱布尼茨确实是独立发展了微积分的,他们使用了完全不同的符号和数学基础(牛顿的符号是几何的,而莱布尼茨的符号是解析的)。从某种意义上说,莱布尼茨赢了,因为从十八世纪一直沿用至今的符号是莱布尼茨的,而不是牛顿的。
Leibniz was an influential German polymath, trained as a lawyer and employed most of his life by several German princes, especially the three dukes of Hanover. Unfortunately, his relationship with Duke Georg Ludwig (1660–1727) deteriorated, and when Ludwig became King George I of England, Leibniz was forbidden to enter the country. He was very critical of both Descartes’s and Newton’s work and became embroiled in an acrimonious dispute with Newton over who had invented the calculus first. This dispute, carried on by Leibniz in Germany and Samuel Clarke (1675–1729) in England, was one of the most famous philosophical disputes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as it ranged over issues of Newtonian natural philosophy and theology. In the end the participants died, and the matter was never resolved. It seems clear now that Newton and Leibniz did develop the calculus independently, with completely different notation and mathematical bases (Newton’s was geometrical, while Leibniz’s was analytical). In a sense Leibniz won, since the notation that has been used from the eighteenth century to the present is his rather than Newton’s.
数学之所以成为 17 世纪自然哲学中如此强大的工具,原因之一是出现了一类新的科学倾向的人:数学从业者。数学曾是一个完全独立的研究领域,对数学问题感兴趣的人通常将他们的研究与实际应用联系起来,例如炮兵、防御工事、航海和测量。在近代早期,这些数学从业者为自然研究的转变提供了必要的动力,使其包括测量、实验和实用性。他们日益增长的重要性是经济结构变化、技术发展和法院等新的政治化知识空间的结果,因此将科学的变化与重商主义和民族国家的发展联系起来。数学从业者声称他们的知识是实用的,这种修辞手段鼓励那些寻求此类信息的人认为它们是有用的。
One of the reasons mathematics became such a powerful tool in seventeenth-century natural philosophy was the presence of a new category of scientifically inclined men: the mathematical practitioners. Mathematics had been a quite separate area of investigation, and those interested in its issues had usually tied their studies to practical applications such as artillery, fortification, navigation, and surveying. In the early modern period, these mathematical practitioners provided the necessary impetus in the transformation of nature studies to include measurement, experiment, and utility. Their growing importance was the result of changing economic structures, developing technologies, and new politicized intellectual spaces such as courts, thus relating changes in science to the development of mercantilism and the nation-state. Mathematical practitioners claimed the utility of their knowledge, a rhetorical move that encouraged those seeking such information to regard it as useful.
数学从业者声称自己在各个领域都拥有专业知识。例如,伽利略早期的物理学和望远镜研究就是利用数学获得赞助的成功尝试。笛卡尔宣称自己有能力教授数学和物理。西蒙·斯蒂文(1548-1620)声称自己是数学从业者,在航海和测量方面拥有专业知识。威廉·吉尔伯特(1544-1603)认为,他关于地球磁性成分的哲学论证在航海方面具有实际应用。莱布尼茨利用他的数学能力担任汉诺威公爵工程项目的顾问。此外,许多从业者,包括托马斯·胡德(1582-98 年)和爱德华·赖特(1558-1615 年),都表现出对测绘和导航的兴趣。
Mathematical practitioners professed an expertise in a variety of areas. For example, Galileo’s early work on physics and the telescope were successful attempts to gain patronage by using mathematics. Descartes advertised his abilities to teach mathematics and physics. Simon Stevin (1548–1620) claimed the status of a mathematical practitioner, including an expertise in navigation and surveying. William Gilbert (1544–1603) argued that his larger philosophical arguments about the magnetic composition of the Earth had practical applications for navigation. Leibniz used his mathematical power to act as an advisor on engineering projects for the dukes of Hanover. As well, many practitioners, including Thomas Hood (fl. 1582–98) and Edward Wright (1558–1615), demonstrated an interest in mapping and navigation.
这种对数学和量化世界行为的新兴趣激发了人们对概率的兴趣。数学家们并不认为世界是变化无常的,而是我们对它的不完全了解限制了我们的理解。引入概率的数学评估是理解复杂系统的一步,在复杂系统中,并非所有的决定因素都能确定。布莱斯·帕斯卡(1623-62)、皮埃尔·德·费马和克里斯蒂安·惠更斯(1629-95)都研究了预测机会游戏的数学基础,这是十七世纪流行的消遣方式。帕斯卡对机会几何学的兴趣比纸牌和骰子赌博有着更广泛的影响,因为它使他发展了对上帝信仰的概率论证,现在被称为帕斯卡赌注。他得出结论,虽然人们不能完全确定上帝是否存在,但通过使用四种可能的条件,人们最有可能的信仰上帝会产生什么结果。如果上帝不存在,相信上帝也不会有任何损失,但如果上帝存在,而人们相信上帝,人们就会得救。相反,如果上帝存在,不相信上帝就会损失惨重,而如果上帝不存在,人们就一无所获。(见图5.1。)
This new interest in mathematics and in quantifying the behavior of the world sparked interest in probability. Mathematicians did not believe the world was capricious but that our incomplete knowledge of it limited our comprehension. The introduction of a mathematical evaluation of probability was a step toward understanding complex systems in which not all the determining factors could be known with certainty. Blaise Pascal (1623–62), Pierre de Fermat, and Christiaan Huygens (1629–95) all investigated the mathematical basis of prediction of games of chance, which were popular pastimes in the seventeenth century. Pascal’s interest in the geometry of chance had wider implications than gambling at cards and dice, since it led him to develop his probabilistic argument for belief in God, now known as Pascal’s Wager. He concluded that, although one cannot know with complete certainty if God exists, by using four possible conditions, one’s best probable outcome would result from belief in God. If God did not exist, one lost nothing by believing in Him, but if He did exist, and one believed, one would be saved. Conversely, one lost a great deal by not believing in God if He did exist, while gaining nothing if He didn’t exist. (See figure 5.1.)
5.1帕斯卡的赌注
5.1 PASCAL’S WAGER
不相信上帝 Do Not Believe in God | 相信上帝 Do Believe in God | |
上帝不存在 GOD DOES NOT EXIST | 沒有得到或失去 Nothing gained or lost | 沒有得到或失去 Nothing gained or lost |
上帝确实存在 GOD DOES EXIST | 诅咒 Damnation | 救恩 Salvation |
到本世纪末,雅各布·伯努利(1654-1705)编纂了概率数学,认为数学在不确定的世界中为我们提供了最大的确定性。然而,概率的概念在物理学中并没有得到很好的接受,牛顿的普遍定律似乎提供了确定的答案,而不是概率的答案。物理学的基础从确定性转向概率是现代科学中最痛苦的转变之一,但它在近 200 年后才发生。
By the end of the century Jacob Bernoulli (1654–1705) had codified the mathematics of probability, arguing that mathematics gave us the greatest certainty possible in an uncertain world. The concept of probability was not well accepted in physics, however, where Newton’s universal laws seemed to provide certain, rather than probabilistic, answers. The shift of the foundation of physics from certainty to probability was one of the most traumatic transitions in modern science, but it would not happen for almost 200 years.
所有这些寻找通往某些知识的新尝试都至关重要,因为自然哲学家们对宇宙的构成提出了一些激进的建议。科学革命最明显地与太阳中心宇宙模型的发展有关。这始于哥白尼,他声称地球围绕太阳旋转,并开发了一个数学模型来解释行星的运动。自然哲学家们一直不愿接受哥白尼的理论,因为它缺乏适当的物理依据,比如亚里士多德通过自然运动的概念为他的宇宙学图式提供了依据。因此,所谓的哥白尼革命(历史学家喜欢将创新称为革命)是不完整的,直到伟大的英国天文学家和数学家艾萨克·牛顿爵士(1643-1727)基于他的万有引力概念设计出一个运动数学模型,在一个物理系统中解释天体和地球的运动。
All these new attempts to find a path to certain knowledge were crucial, since natural philosophers were making some radical suggestions about the makeup of the cosmos. The scientific revolution is most clearly identified with the development of a heliocentric model of the universe. This began with Copernicus, who claimed that the Earth revolved around the Sun and who developed a mathematical model to explain the movement of the planets. Natural philosophers had been slow to accept Copernicus’s theory because it lacked a proper physical justification, such as Aristotle had provided through the concept of natural motion for his cosmological schema. Thus, the so-called Copernican Revolution (historians love to label innovations as revolutions) was incomplete until Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727), the great English astronomer and mathematician, devised a mathematical model of motion that explained heavenly and earthly movement in a single physical system based on his concept of universal gravitation.
艾萨克·牛顿出生于 1643 年 1 月 4 日。他的父亲在他出生前就去世了,他的早年生活并不幸福,他与他不喜欢的继父和希望他经营家庭农场的母亲发生了冲突。牛顿没有牛顿的农业天赋让他的母亲对他的生计感到绝望。幸运的是,当地的牧师注意到了他的学术潜力,并帮助他获得了剑桥大学三一学院的奖学金。牛顿是一位相对平庸的学者,除了数学之外;他自学了笛卡尔的几何学和维达的代数。后来,他于 1664 年成为三一学院的研究员,并于 1669 年被任命为卢卡斯数学教授。后者是一个享有盛誉的职位,尽管他经常对空荡荡的教室讲课。他的老师艾萨克·巴罗 (1630-77) 不得不拉关系才能让他得到这个职位,因为牛顿不相信基督的特殊神性或三位一体。这使他成为一个潜在的异教徒,因为他不会对英国国教宣誓效忠,而这通常是任何高级学者或政府官员都必须宣誓效忠的。牛顿的立场。尽管牛顿不会在宗教信仰上妥协,但他一生都对自己的观点讳莫如深。
Isaac Newton was born January 4, 1643. His father died before he was born, and his early life was not happy, spent in conflict with a stepfather he disliked and a mother who expected him to run the family farm. Newton had no aptitude for farming, and his mother despaired of finding him a livelihood. Fortunately, the local vicar noticed his scholarly potential and helped procure him a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge. Newton was a relatively undistinguished scholar, except for mathematics; he taught himself geometry from Descartes’s works and algebra from Viète’s. In due course, he was made a Fellow of Trinity College in 1664 and was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 1669. The latter was a prestigious position, although he often lectured to empty rooms. His teacher, Isaac Barrow (1630–77), had to pull strings in order to get him this position, since Newton did not believe in the special divinity of Christ or in the Trinity. This made him a potential heretic, since he would not take the required oath of uniformity to the Church of England, which was normally required for any high academic or government position. While Newton would not compromise his religious beliefs, he kept his views very private for his entire life.
1665 年,大瘟疫再次袭击英国。瘟疫席卷了剑桥,牛顿被迫回到母亲家中。被迫与世隔绝的生活让他有机会整理过去四年通过密集阅读而形成的大量思想。虽然不太可能真的有苹果落在他的头上,但在接下来的一年,也就是他的奇迹之年,他提出了关于引力、物理学和天文学的理论。似乎这还不够,他还创立了微积分,并开始研究光学和光理论。
In 1665 the Great Plague returned to England. It swept through Cambridge, and Newton was forced to return to his mother’s home. The enforced isolation allowed him the opportunity to put together a number of ideas he had been developing through intensive reading during the past four years. Although it is unlikely that an apple really fell on his head, during the following year, his annus mirabilis (miraculous year), he worked out theories about gravitation, physics, and astronomy. As if that were not enough, he also created the calculus and began his investigations into optics and theories of light.
虽然牛顿在那一年研究了行星运动,但他直到 22 年后才发表他的成果。他对自己数学的导致人们思考为什么行星的轨道是圆形或接近圆形,因此他暂时放下这些研究,专心研究炼金术和神学,包括他对《启示录》和《但以理书》的长期兴趣。在接下来的 13 年里,他花了很多时间阅读圣经注释、研究圣经,并构建自己的神学。这种神学非常复杂,最接近于一种极端的一神论或阿里乌斯教,后者认为基督不是神,而是上帝创造的最高存在。在他的一生中,牛顿花在神学上的时间比研究其他任何学科都要多。
Although Newton studied planetary motion during that year, he did not publish his results until 22 years later. He was dissatisfied with his mathematical results to the question of why the orbits of the planets were circular, or nearly circular, and so put them away for a time in order to concentrate on alchemy and theology, including his long-standing interest in the books of Revelation and Daniel. He spent many hours over the next 13 years reading commentaries on scripture, studying the Bible, and constructing his personal theology. This theology was complex, most closely resembling an extreme form of Unitarianism or Arianism, which argued that Christ was not divine but the highest of God’s created beings. Over his lifetime, Newton spent more time studying theology than any other subject.
1679 年,伦敦皇家学会通讯秘书罗伯特·胡克 (1635-1703) 写信给牛顿,了解他在做什么。胡克的工作是充当一种智力笔友,与皇家学会成员交流,并让有相同兴趣的人保持联系。然而,由于胡克批评了牛顿早期的光学工作,牛顿和胡克的关系一直很紧张。1679 年,胡克问道,从高塔上扔下一个物体(例如一块石头)到旋转的地球上,它的路径是什么?牛顿回答说,他目前没有从事自然哲学研究,但他认为它会向东螺旋式地向地球中心移动,因为从塔顶到地球的角速度大于地球表面的角速度。胡克认为事实并非如此:路径是水平直线运动以恒定速度与朝向中心的吸引力相结合的结果,并且与物体与地球之间距离的平方成反比。这让牛顿开始怀疑,他于 1666 年提出的问题“行星轨道为何是圆形”是否被误导了。
In 1679 Robert Hooke (1635–1703), corresponding secretary of the Royal Society of London, wrote to Newton to find out what he was doing. It was Hooke’s job to act as a kind of intellectual pen pal, communicating with members of the Royal Society and putting people with similar interests in touch. Newton and Hooke had a strained relationship, however, since Hooke had criticized Newton’s earlier optical work. What, Hooke asked in 1679, would be the path of a body (a rock, for example) released from a high tower down to a rotating Earth? Newton replied that he was not presently engaged in natural philosophical investigations, but he suggested that it would spiral east to the center of the Earth because the angular velocity from the top of the tower was greater than on the Earth’s surface. Hooke argued that this was not so: the path would be the result of a horizontal linear motion at constant speed combined with an attractive force toward the center and varied inversely with the square of the distance between the body and the Earth. This caused Newton to wonder whether his original question in 1666 as to why planetary orbits were circular was misdirected.
牛顿开始研究椭圆轨道的数学模型。1684 年,他的朋友埃德蒙·哈雷(约 1656-1743 年,以他的名字命名的彗星的发现者)骑马前往剑桥,试图让牛顿将他的一些数学工作成果传达给皇家学会,这是一项艰巨的任务,因为牛顿非常神秘,拒绝发表任何论文。哈雷说,他和他的朋友,建筑师和自然哲学家克里斯托弗·雷恩(1632-1723 年)和胡克,想知道如果一个轨道物体被一个与它们之间的距离平方成反比的力吸引到中心物体,它会以什么样的运动方式移动。牛顿回答说,1679 年,他已经满意地证明了它将是一个椭圆,尽管他没有可用的演示。哈雷对此印象深刻,认为这是数学天文学的突破,并敦促牛顿发表论文。他甚至承诺资助出版。牛顿同意了,并在令人惊奇的短时间内创作了一本改变天文学和物理学。1687 年出版的《自然哲学的数学原理》(通常简称为《自然哲学的数学原理》)阐述了牛顿的万有引力理论,并为整个宇宙的运动建立了数学和力学模型。在这项工作中,他使用了伽利略物理学的数学模型,并将其与哥白尼和开普勒的行星模型相结合。
Newton set to work on mathematical models of elliptical orbits. In 1684 his friend Edmund Halley (c. 1656–1743, and the discoverer of the comet that bears his name) rode out to Cambridge to try to get Newton to communicate some of his mathematical work to the Royal Society, a difficult task since Newton was very secretive and refused to publish anything. Halley said that he and his friends, the architect and natural philosopher Christopher Wren (1632–1723) and Hooke, had wondered what motion an orbiting body would traverse if attracted to a central body by a force that varied inversely as the square of the distance between them. Newton replied that in 1679 he had proven to his own satisfaction that it would be an ellipse, although he did not have the demonstration available. Halley was deeply impressed, seeing this as a breakthrough in mathematical astronomy, and urged Newton to publish. He even promised to finance the publication. Newton agreed and in an astonishingly short period produced the book that changed astronomy and physics. Published in 1687, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, usually known simply as the Principia) laid out Newton’s theory of universal gravitation and established a mathematical and mechanical model for the motion of the whole universe. In this work he used the mathematical models of Galilean physics and combined them with the planetary models of Copernicus and Kepler.
牛顿创立了宇宙物理学,即“大综合”,天文学家终于可以满怀信心地摆脱亚里士多德的束缚。他创立了一个真实的宇宙模型,而不仅仅是一套数学计算,就像哥白尼提出的一样。
Newton had produced a universal physics, a Grand Synthesis, which finally allowed astronomers to move away from Aristotle with confidence. He had produced a real model of the universe rather than merely a mathematical set of calculations, such as Copernicus had put forward.
在《自然哲学的数学原理》中,牛顿首次定义了力,将其与物质和运动一起列为宇宙的第三个基本性质。他说,力是迫使运动改变的必要条件。如果没有力,物体(他创造的另一个术语)就会由于惯性而保持静止或直线运动。这通常被称为牛顿第一定律。他的第二定律展示了用数学方法测量力的方法,现在表示为f = ma,他的第三定律断言每个作用都有一个大小相等、方向相反的反作用。为了理解宇宙中物体的运动,牛顿坚持认为它们在绝对时间和空间中运行。在牛顿体系中,绝对时间和空间是现实中独立且不变的方面。绝对时间是均匀的,以相同的变化率前进,遍布宇宙的任何地方,也包括过去和未来的所有时刻。人们无法直接感知绝对时间,但可以通过观察行星和恒星的运动来从数学上推断它。绝对空间是宇宙中静止且恒定的维度。这意味着所有观察者都看到了绝对空间中恒星和行星(以及其他一切)的运动,因此他们都应该看到与绝对空间不变的维度相比相同的运动。这一结论意义深远。这意味着牛顿物理学确实是普适的,从遥远的恒星测量宇宙的人会得到与我们相同的结果。
In the Principia Newton defined force for the first time, adding it to matter and motion as the third essential quality of the universe. Force, he said, was necessary to compel a change of motion. Without force, a mass (another term he originated) would continue at rest or in rectilinear motion, due to inertia. This is often called Newton’s First Law. His Second Law showed the way to measure force mathematically, now expressed as f = ma, and his Third Law asserted that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In order to understand the motion of the bodies in the universe, Newton insisted that they operate in absolute time and space. In the Newtonian system, absolute time and space were independent and unchanging aspects of reality. Absolute time was uniform, progressing at the same rate of change, everywhere in the universe and at all past and future moments. People could not perceive absolute time directly, but could infer it mathematically by observing the motion of the planets and stars. Absolute space was the unmoving and constant dimension of the universe. This meant that all observers saw the motion of the stars and planets (and everything else) within absolute space, and thus they should all see the same motion as measured against the unchanging dimension of absolute space. The implications of this were profound. It meant that Newtonian physics was truly universal and someone measuring the universe from a distant star would get the same results as we would.
牛顿将离心力(物体偏离圆形轨道的趋势)的概念颠倒过来。在他 1666 年的早期著作中,他遵循了圆周运动的旧观点,试图量化和解释这种偏离的趋势。但是,在《自然哲学的数学原理》中,他提出了一个重要见解,即向心力,一种将物体拉向中心的力。这就是引力。因此,月球的运动由两部分组成:第一,惯性运动使它沿直线运动;第二,引力不断迫使它向地球坠落。这两种力的平衡使月球保持在轨道上。(见图5.2。)
Newton took the concept of centrifugal force (the tendency of an object to fly away from a circular path) and stood it on its head. In his early work in 1666, he had followed the older view of circular motion, which sought to quantify and explain this tendency to fly away. But, in a major insight, the Principia argued for a centripetal force instead, a force that pulls objects into the center. This is gravity. Thus, the Moon’s motion is composed of two parts: first, inertial motion carries it in a straight line; second, gravity constantly forces it to fall toward the Earth. The balance of these two forces holds the Moon in orbit. (See figure 5.2.)
5.2牛顿解释月球运动
5.2 NEWTON EXPLAINS THE MOON’S MOTION
源自牛顿《数学原理》命题 I。在 A、B、C 等每个点,月球的运动都试图沿直线移动,远离“S”,但被向心力(重力)拉回“S”。
From Newton, Principia Mathematica, Proposition I. At each point A, B, C, etc., the Moon’s motion seeks to move in a rectilinear line away from “S” but is drawn back by centripetal force (gravity) toward “S.”
牛顿提出他的论证是为了反驳笛卡尔的涡旋理论,笛卡尔在《哲学原理》(1644 年)中详细阐述了这一理论。笛卡尔认为宇宙就像一台机器,这一概念被称为“机械哲学”。除了那些充满粗糙物质的部分(例如地球),宇宙是一个充满空间,或者说是一个充满一种叫做以太的元素的空间。行星在一种以太漩涡中移动,以太漩涡将它们带入轨道。(见图5.3。)
Newton set up his argument in order to disprove Descartes’s theory of vortices, which Descartes had articulated in Principia Philosophiae (1644). Descartes had argued that the universe was like a machine, a concept called “the Mechanical Philosophy.” Except for those parts filled with coarse matter (such as the Earth), the universe was a plenum, or a space filled with an element called ether. The planets moved in a sort of whirlpool of ether that carried them along in their orbits. (See figure 5.3.)
5.3笛卡尔的涡旋宇宙学
5.3 DESCARTES’S VORTEX COSMOLOGY
点 S、E、A 和 ε 是涡旋的中心。通过每个涡旋内的微粒的搅动,中心自发光,因此是一颗恒星。行星围绕 S(太阳)移动,被涡旋物质的运动所席卷(T 是 terra 或地球)。顶部的条纹表示彗星的路径。来自笛卡尔的《世界或光论》(1664 年)。
Points S, E, A, and ε are centers of vortices. By the churning of the corpuscles within each vortex, the center is self-illuminating, and thus is a star. Around S (the Sun) move the planets, swept along by the motion of the material of the vortex (T is terra or the Earth). The stripe at the top indicates a comet’s path. From Descartes’s The World or a Treatise on Light (1664).
《数学原理》在很多方面都是对笛卡尔著作的攻击(书名反映了笛卡尔的观点),这就是为什么第二卷集中研究流体的工作原理以及物体如何在流体中移动。这种对流体力学的探索可能会让现代读者感到困惑,因为它似乎与力、引力或行星运动关系不大。牛顿的目标不仅仅是提出自己的体系,而是通过表明涡流模型存在严重缺陷来诋毁笛卡尔的体系。
The Principia was in many ways an attack on Descartes’s book (the title reflected Descartes’s), which is why Book Two concentrated on the study of how fluids work and how things move through them. This exploration of fluid mechanics may confuse modern readers, since it seems to have little to do with forces, gravity, or the motion of the planets. Newton’s objective was not just to present his own system but to discredit Descartes’s by showing that the vortex model was critically flawed.
《自然哲学的数学原理》最深远和最持久的成就是牛顿通过万有引力的概念,找到了一种方法将行星和卫星(包括月球和彗星)的轨道、伽利略的自由落体定律、物体在地球上的固定以及潮汐联系在一起。他证明了从树上掉下来的苹果遵循的规律与月球绕地球公转的规律相同。他的定律适用于一切——月球、木星和土星的卫星、地球、岩石和遥远的恒星。
The most far-reaching and long-lasting achievement of the Principia was how Newton found a way to tie together through the concept of universal gravitation the orbits of the planets and the satellites (including the Moon and comets), Galileo’s law of falling bodies, the fixation of objects to the Earth, and the tides. He proved that an apple falling from a tree obeyed the same laws as the Moon orbiting the Earth. He had a law that applied to everything – the Moon, the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, the Earth, rocks, and the distant stars.
牛顿普遍定律的强大威力让许多不同领域的学者认为,应该有类似的定律来管理人类的互动。来自许多其他领域的哲学家,包括经济学和政治哲学,在整个十八世纪都在寻找这样的定律,并认为任何不遵循普遍定律的社会都注定要失败。
The sheer power of Newton’s universal laws suggested to scholars in many different fields that there should be similar laws governing human interaction as well. Philosophers from many other areas, including economics and political philosophy, searched throughout the eighteenth century for such laws and argued that any society that failed to follow the universal laws was doomed to failure.
讽刺的是,《原理》既没有获得大众的欢迎,也没有获得经济上的成功。作为英国科学的杰出机构,皇家学会拒绝赞助它,因为他们之前的出版项目弗朗西斯·威洛比的《鱼类史》是一场财务灾难。这本昂贵的带插图图书卖不出去几本,只能被迫把它发给员工,尤其是罗伯特·胡克,以代替工资!皇家学会的成员也许准确地认为,《原理》是一本读者有限的书,因此迫使哈雷自己出资,他通过出售订阅来筹集资金。这个故事提醒我们,尽管我们现在可能认为牛顿的工作具有革命性,但在当时,它只吸引了有限的读者,因为很少有人能理解他的数学论证。
Ironically, the Principia was not a popular or financial success. The Royal Society, the pre-eminent institutional home of English science, refused to sponsor it, since their previous publishing venture, Francis Willoughby’s History of Fishes, had been a financial disaster. They were unable to sell more than a handful of copies of this expensive illustrated book and were forced to give it to their employees, especially Robert Hooke, in lieu of salary! The members of the Royal Society, perhaps accurately, saw the Principia as a book with a limited readership and so forced Halley to fund it himself, which he did through the sale of subscriptions. This story reminds us that, as revolutionary as we might now consider Newton’s work, at the time it held the interest of a limited audience because so few people could understand his mathematical arguments.
由于牛顿认为他的研究是深奥的,只有少数人可以接触到,因此他并不太关心是否能接触到广泛的受众。他的工作中有一个方面被他的物理学和数学所掩盖,因此从现代人的意识中消失了,那就是他对炼金术的浓厚兴趣。牛顿和罗伯特·波义尔都参与了炼金术研究,寻找贤者之石以及自然的基本结构和功能。尽管“乘法器”或只对黄金感兴趣的炼金术士被视为粗俗之人,但许多受人尊敬的绅士都研究了炼金术。牛顿和波义尔的研究都源于对上帝对宇宙秩序的信仰,并寻求激发自然的活性原理,这是对机械哲学的又一次攻击。由于牛顿对宇宙在微观和宏观层面上的运作方式感兴趣,他研究了宇宙的原始物质是什么。他大量阅读古代和现代作家的作品,并进行了长时间的实验。由于他在这方面的专业知识,晚年他被任命为铸币厂厂长,负责评估那些声称生产黄金的人。他去世时,许多对炼金术感兴趣的人都渴望能够接触到他丰富的炼金术著作。
Because Newton considered his studies esoteric, accessible only to a select few, he was not overly concerned about reaching a wide audience. One aspect of his work that has been overshadowed by his physics and mathematics and so has faded from modern consciousness was his great interest in alchemy. Both Newton and Robert Boyle were involved in alchemical investigations, looking both for the Philosopher’s Stone and the basic structure and functioning of nature. Although “multipliers,” or alchemists interested only in gold, were looked upon as crass, many respectable gentlemen studied alchemy. Both Newton’s and Boyle’s investigations came from the belief in God’s ordering of the universe and were a search for the active principles that animated nature, another attack on mechanical philosophy. Since Newton was interested in how the universe worked on a microscopic as well as a macroscopic level, he investigated what the prime matter of the universe was. He read both ancient and modern authors copiously and performed experiments of long duration. Because of his expertise in this area, in later years he was appointed Master of the Mint, in which position he assessed those who claimed to have produced gold. At his death, a number of people interested in alchemy were anxious to gain access to his extensive library of alchemical works.
尽管牛顿的著作并不畅销,研究也较为晦涩难懂,但他却是他那一代最著名的科学家。他获得了许多重要的荣誉,表明他的崇高地位,包括他担任铸币厂厂长,然后担任铸币厂厂长,并当选皇家学会会长。1727 年,他举行了盛大的国葬,证明了他崇高的地位,有关此事的报道传遍了欧洲,伏尔泰(他深受牛顿自然哲学的影响)提供了其中一位目击者证词。伏尔泰对一位自然哲学家,尤其是一位具有非正统宗教观点的哲学家,被如此隆重地安葬感到极为钦佩。这个国家明白知识分子的重要性!
In spite of his lack of bestseller status and his more arcane studies, Newton was the most famous scientist of his generation. He received many important marks of honor indicative of his high status, including his position as Warden and then Master of the Mint and election as president of the Royal Society. His opulent state funeral in 1727 demonstrated his exalted position, and reports of the event were transmitted around Europe, with Voltaire (who was deeply influenced by Newton’s natural philosophy) providing one of the eyewitness accounts. Voltaire was extremely impressed that a natural philosopher, and one with heterodox religious views at that, was buried with such pomp and circumstance. Here was a country that understood the importance of its intellectuals!
就在牛顿为整个宇宙的运动引入数学基础的同时,其他自然哲学家也在寻找更具体的模型。有些人着眼于他们周围正在开发的新仪器和机器,认为世界本身就是一种机器。正如人类建造了越来越精密的数学仪器,尤其是用于航海、天文学、测量和计时的仪器,以及更复杂的机器,这让他们觉得上帝可能创造了最复杂的机器。这种以机械方式运作的世界的概念被称为机械哲学,或原子哲学或微粒哲学。它最初由勒内·笛卡尔和皮埃尔·伽桑狄 (1592-1655) 发展。笛卡尔特别将机械哲学扩展到生物,他在《人论》 (1662) 中指出,人体生理机能就像机器一样运作。微粒哲学后来被英国人罗伯特·波义尔和托马斯·霍布斯所接受,后者在他的政治理论中使用了它。基本上,它是将世界解释为一台机器,要么是时钟(意味着秩序),要么是引擎(显示自然的力量)。如果宇宙是一台机器,那么上帝就是伟大的工程师或钟表匠。起初,伽桑狄设计了这种对自然的解释,赋予上帝超越性而非内在性的角色。也就是说,伽桑狄认为上帝可以存在于物质宇宙之外,因为他已经建立了一个机械结构。上帝没有必要存在于不完美的世界之中并对其进行修补。微粒哲学最终被指责为无神论,因为如果宇宙是一只完美的钟,它就永远不会停止,也就不需要上帝了。自然哲学家将上帝从宇宙中移除的说法是不公平的,但却广为流传,影响了牛顿和伽桑狄。在接下来的几个世纪里,它以多种形式反复出现,并成为对许多哲学家和科学家的指控。
At the same time that Newton was introducing a mathematical basis for motion throughout the universe, other natural philosophers were searching for a more concrete model. Some, looking to the new instruments and machines being developed around them, argued that the world itself was a sort of machine. As men constructed more and more precision mathematical instruments, especially for navigation, astronomy, surveying, and timekeeping, and more complex machines, this suggested to them that God might have created the most complex machine of all. This conception of the world operating in a mechanical fashion became known as the Mechanical Philosophy or, alternatively, the atomical or corpuscular philosophy. It was first developed by René Descartes and Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655). Descartes especially extended the mechanical philosophy to include living things, arguing in his Treatise on Man (1662) that human physiology operated just like a machine. Corpuscular philosophy was later taken up by the Englishmen Robert Boyle and Thomas Hobbes, the latter of whom used it in his political theories. Basically, it was an interpretation of the world as a machine, either as a clock (implying order) or an engine (showing the power of nature). If the universe was a machine, then God was the Great Engineer, or Clockmaker. At first, Gassendi devised this interpretation of nature to give God a role as a transcendent, rather than immanent, being. That is, Gassendi argued that God could exist outside the material universe because He had set a mechanical structure in place. There was no need for God to exist within and tinker with an imperfect world. Corpuscular philosophy was eventually accused of being atheistic because, if the universe were a perfect clock, it would never stop, and there would be no need for God. The claim that natural philosophers were removing God from the universe was unfair but widespread, affecting Newton as well as Gassendi. It recurred in many forms and as a charge against many philosophers and scientists over the next centuries.
机械哲学根植于古代原子论,由伊壁鸠鲁、德谟克利特和卢克莱修所持,后来被人文主义者重新发现。这些古代思想家认为世界是由无限小的简单粒子组成的。对于古希腊人来说,这表明了世界的永恒性和完全物质性,这是笛卡尔和伽桑狄(一位天主教神父)试图改变的理论的一个方面。他们认为,尽管世界似乎永远存在,但这不可能是真的,这意味着它的创造与它的运作不同,因此上帝知道,但自然哲学无法知道。物质宇宙不能作为上帝存在的证据或反对的证据,因为上帝的存在是一个形而上学的问题,而不是物理问题。
Mechanical philosophy was rooted in ancient theories of atomism, held by Epicurus, Democritus, and Lucretius, which had been rediscovered by the humanists. These ancient thinkers had posited that the world was composed of infinitely small simple particles. For the ancient Greeks, this had shown the eternity and total materiality of the world, an aspect of the theory that Descartes and especially Gassendi (a Catholic priest) set out to change. They argued that although it appeared that the world had existed forever, this could not be true, which meant that its creation was of a different kind than its operation and was, therefore, known by God, but unknowable through natural philosophy. A material universe could not be used as a proof for or against the existence of God, since God’s existence was a metaphysical, not physical, question.
机械哲学家将物质简化为最简单的部分——原子,就像笛卡尔通过怀疑论剥夺了思想一样。这些原子只有两个特性:延展和运动。由于延展是物质的定义——即物质必须占据空间,所有空间都必须是物质——真空就是在这种哲学中,这是不可能的。因此,宇宙中充满了粒子。所有超距力实际上都是通过粒子的运动,这解释了磁性和行星的运动。牛顿在《自然哲学的数学原理》中如此强烈地攻击了笛卡尔理论的这一方面。真空是否可能存在于自然界的问题很快在罗伯特·波义尔的实验计划中得到解决。对物质本质的仔细研究旨在证明机械哲学,却驳斥了宇宙充满物质的理论,这真是历史上的一大讽刺。
Mechanical philosophers reduced matter to its simplest parts, atoms, just as Descartes had stripped away ideas through skepticism. These atoms had only two qualities: extension and motion. Since extension was a definition of matter – that is, that matter must take up space and all space must be matter – a vacuum was not possible in this philosophy. Therefore, the universe was filled with a plenum of particles. All force-at-a-distance was actually motion through the plenum, which explained magnetism and the motion of the planets. It was this aspect of Descartes’s theory that Newton had attacked so forcefully in the Principia. And the question of whether a vacuum could exist in nature was soon taken up in Robert Boyle’s experimental program. It is a great historical irony that the close examination of the nature of matter, meant to prove mechanical philosophy, refuted the very theory that the universe was full of matter.
实验是了解自然的可靠知识的来源,但对于近代早期来说,实验还是新鲜事物。亚里士多德当然认为,将自然置于非自然的境地并不能告诉我们它到底是如何运作的。这种态度在 16 世纪开始发生变化,部分原因是人们对确定性和人类控制自然的力量有了新的态度,部分原因是熟练的仪器制造者能够制造出精确的哲学仪器。弗朗西斯·培根在担任大法官期间监督了对叛徒的折磨,他认为,当人类遭受极度痛苦时,他们会被迫说出真相。同样,对自然进行审判,包括通过实验折磨自然,也会迫使她透露自己的秘密。虽然在这一时期,实验结果的可靠性不断受到审查,但可以公平地说,在这一科学革命时期,自然研究的一个重大变化是实验的使用和依赖程度的增加。
Experimentation, as a source of sure knowledge about nature, was new to the early modern period. Aristotle, of course, had argued that forcing nature into unnatural situations would tell us nothing about how it really behaved. This attitude began to change in the sixteenth century, partly because of new attitudes toward certainty and man’s power over nature, and partly because skilled instrument makers were able to create precise philosophical instruments. Francis Bacon, who as Lord Chancellor had overseen the torturing of traitors, believed that human beings, when subjected to extreme pain, would be forced to tell the truth. Likewise, putting nature on trial, including torturing nature through experiments, would force her to reveal her secrets. While the reliability of truth claims as a result of experimentation was under constant scrutiny in this period, it is fair to say that one of the significant changes to the study of nature in this period of scientific revolution was the increased use of, and reliance on, experimentation.
关于实验的第一次深入讨论可能来自威廉·哈维 (William Harvey,1578-1657) 著作中的人体解剖学研究。继 16 世纪维萨里取得成功之后,学者们对生物的结构和功能产生了浓厚的兴趣。例如,吉罗拉莫·法布里西 (Girolamo Fabrici,约 1533-1619) 研究了静脉的结构,并于 1603 年发现特定间隔处存在瓣膜。哈维通过敏锐的观察、一些深思熟虑的实验以及对包括人类在内的所有动物都具有相似结构的信念(后来被称为比较解剖学),发展了一种血液循环理论,该理论在随后的几年中产生了巨大影响。
Probably the first extended discussion of experimentation came from the study of human anatomy in the work of William Harvey (1578–1657). Following the success of Vesalius in the sixteenth century, scholars developed a keen interest in the structure and function of living things. For example, Girolamo Fabrici (c. 1533–1619) examined the structure of veins and in 1603 found the existence of valves at particular intervals. Harvey, using keen observation, some well-thought-out experiments, and a belief in the similar structure of all animals including humans (what was later called comparative anatomy), developed a theory of the circulation of the blood that proved very influential in the years that followed.
哈维在维萨里任教的帕多瓦接受了医学培训,并于 1602 年返回伦敦,首先在圣巴塞洛缪医院担任医生医院,并最终成为查理一世的御用医师。任职期间,他对动物血液进行了一系列实验,最终出版了《论动物心脏和血液的运动》(1628 年)。在书中,他证明动物和人类的血液由心脏泵出,循环至全身,然后返回心脏。他通过一系列精致的实验演示证明了这一点,其中一些涉及动物活体解剖,还有一些侵入性较小的人类演示。哈维在序言中将这种循环与公民围绕国王的运动进行了政治对比,表明他与即将在英国爆发的内战中的保皇党有密切联系。
Harvey received his medical training at Padua, where Vesalius had taught, and returned to London in 1602 to work first as a physician at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and eventually as Royal Physician to Charles I. While in these positions he conducted a series of experiments on the blood in animals. This resulted in the publication of On the Movement of the Heart and Blood in Animals (1628), in which he demonstrated that the blood in animals and humans was pumped out by the heart, circulated through the entire body, and returned to the heart. He proved this through a series of elegant experimental demonstrations, some involving vivisection of animals and some less invasive demonstrations with humans. In his preface Harvey drew the political parallel between this circulation and the movement of citizens around their king, indicating his close affiliation with the Royalist side of the civil war soon to erupt in England.
哈维所做的最清楚的实验之一就是证明心脏隔膜上没有通道。从希腊时代到盖伦和维萨里,解剖学家一直认为血液必须通过分隔两个心室或心脏大腔的壁。虽然这种解释满足了血液假定目的和路径的某些方面,但问题仍然存在。第一个是容量问题,因为旧系统要求肝脏产生恒定的血液供应,而这些血液会被身体其他部位完全消耗。在哈维看来,这与进入体内的物质数量完全不成比例。第二个问题纯粹是解剖学问题。虽然盖伦说隔膜上有孔,但维萨里研究的是人类心脏,而不是盖伦所用的牛和猪心脏,他找不到这样的通道。维萨里并没有完全反驳盖伦,而是主张隔膜是可渗透的,要么是海绵状组织,要么是小到看不见的孔。
One of the clearest experiments that Harvey performed was his proof that there were no passages through the septum of the heart. From Greek times through Galen and Vesalius, anatomists had argued that blood must pass through the wall separating the two ventricles or large chambers of the heart. While this explanation satisfied some aspects of the assumed purpose and path of blood, problems persisted. The first was the question of volume, since the old system required the liver to produce a constant supply of blood that was completely consumed by the rest of the body. This seemed to Harvey to be out of all proportion to the amount of matter that went into the body. The second problem was purely anatomical. While Galen had said there were pores in the septum, Vesalius, who worked with human hearts rather than the cow and pig hearts that Galen had used, could find no such passages. Rather than contradict Galen completely, Vesalius argued for a permeable septum with either sponge-like tissue or pores too small to see.
哈维推断,如果血液循环,所需的血液量将小得多;设想一种可重复使用的血液供应比设想一种不断产生和消耗的血液供应更简单。该系统的中心是心脏,它起着泵的作用,但为了演示两部分循环(心脏到肺部再回到肺部,心脏到身体再回到身体),他必须证明血液不会通过心腔从静脉系统流向动脉系统。在后来的实验中,他用牛心和一囊水证明了这一点。他将通道与心脏绑在一起,这样他就可以把水挤进一个心室,看看它是否进入另一个心室。当它没有进入时,他首次证明了血液没有通过隔膜。然后,他绑住或解开束缚,并用水囊来表明血液必须按顺序从右心房流到右心室,再流到肺部,然后通过肺静脉流到左心房和左心室,再通过主动脉流到身体。虽然它当时还不清楚血液是如何从动脉流经身体组织并流回静脉的(并且直到显微镜技术发展到足以在细胞水平上看到微血管时,这一问题才得以解决),但 Harvey 的工作比旧系统更好地解释了证据。(见图5.4。)
Harvey reasoned that if blood were circulated, a far smaller volume would be needed; it was simpler to conceive of a reused supply of blood than a constantly created and consumed supply. At the center of the system was the heart, working as a pump, but to demonstrate the two-part circulation (heart-to-lungs and back, heart-to-body and back) he had to show that blood did not move from the venous to the arterial system by way of the chambers of the heart. In a later experiment he demonstrated this, using a cow heart and a bladder of water. He tied off the passages to the heart so that he could squeeze water into one ventricle and see if it passed into the other. When it did not, he had the first proof that the blood did not pass through the septum. He then tied or untied the constraints and used the bladder of water to show that the blood must pass in sequence from right atrium to right ventricle and out to the lungs, and then through the pulmonary vein to the left atrium and left ventricle and out to the body through the aorta. While it was still unclear how the blood got from the arteries through the tissues of the body and back into the veins (and would remain unclear until microscopy developed far enough to see the microvessels at cell level), Harvey’s work better explained the evidence than the older system. (See figure 5.4.)
5.4哈维的心脏模型
5.4 HARVEY’S MODEL OF THE HEART
哈维关闭了“A”处的动脉,并将水泵入腔静脉,以证明没有液体从右心室流向左心室。这推翻了盖伦的心脏模型。
Harvey closed off the artery at “A” and pumped water through the vena cava to demonstrate that no fluid passed from the right ventricle to the left ventricle. This disproved Galen’s model of the heart.
哈维还在他的胚胎学研究中使用了仔细的观察和一些实验。法布里西在他的著作《卵子和小鸡的形成》(1621 年)中观察到,在胎生代中,胚胎是由父母的精液和血液结合而产生的。哈维在这项工作之后仔细研究了卵子的发育。他检查了受精卵从未成形到出生的状态,更仔细地追踪了其生长阶段。他在《动物的繁殖练习》(1657 年)中发表了这项工作。这激发了马塞洛·马尔皮基(1628-94 年)的进一步研究,他于 1672 年引入了使用显微镜观察卵子发育的方法。
Harvey also used careful observation and some experimentation in his embryological studies. Fabrici, in his book On the Formation of the Egg and the Chick (1621), had observed that in viviparous generation the embryo was created by a union of semen and blood from the parents. Harvey followed this work with a close examination of the development of ova. He examined fertilized eggs from their unformed state to birth, tracing even more closely the stages of growth. He published this work in Exercises Concerning the Generation of Animals (1657). This spurred further work by Marcello Malpighi (1628–94), who introduced the use of microscopic observations of ova development in 1672.
哈维和马尔皮基的工作展示了观察和实验的力量,符合许多自然哲学家使用仪器和演示来分离现象并将研究分解为更小组成部分的倾向。在科学革命期间,对仪器研究的提升负有最大责任的人可能是罗伯特·波义尔(1627-91 年)。波义尔是爱尔兰贵族的儿子,在英国内战期间来到剑桥,并在之后成为皇家学会创建的关键人物。从 17 世纪 60 年代起,他加入了伦敦上流社会,与姐姐兰尼拉夫人住在帕尔马街的房子里,并在实验室里招待皇室和学者客人。在剑桥期间,他建立了自己的炼金术实验室来研究物质的基本构成。他谴责老式的炼金术研究,并在《怀疑论化学家》(1661 年)中为新化学研究奠定了基础。
The work of Harvey and Malpighi, showing the power of observation and experiments, accorded with the inclination among many natural philosophers to use instruments and demonstrations to isolate phenomena and break down investigations into smaller components. Perhaps the man most responsible for the elevation of instrumental investigation during the scientific revolution was Robert Boyle (1627–91). Boyle, the son of an Irish noble family, came to Cambridge during the English Civil War and became a key player in the creation of the Royal Society after it. He joined the elite of London society from the 1660s onwards, living with his sister, Lady Ranelagh, in her house in Pall Mall, and entertaining royal and scholarly guests alike at his laboratory there. While at Cambridge, he set up his own alchemical laboratory to investigate the underlying make-up of matter. He denounced old-fashioned alchemical investigations and, in The Skeptical Chymist (1661), laid a foundation for the new study of chemistry.
波义尔在罗伯特·胡克的协助下,使用一种新发明的气泵研究了空气。他雇佣仪器制造商将一个大型、精心吹制的玻璃球连接到泵上,以便从玻璃球中抽出空气。在这种情况下,他追随奥托·冯·格里克(Otto von Guericke,1602-86 年)的脚步,后者在 17 世纪 40 年代也曾进行过空气实验。最著名的实验是 1657 年,冯·格里克证明,两匹马拴在两个相连的铜半球(即所谓的马格德堡半球)上,抽空空气后,它们无法被拉开,因为球体外部的空气重量远大于内部的空气重量。(见图5.5。)
Boyle, with Robert Hooke as his assistant, investigated airs, using a newly devised air pump. He employed instrument makers to attach a large, carefully blown glass globe to a pump in order to evacuate the air from the globe. In this, he followed the lead of Otto von Guericke (1602–86), who had performed his own air experiments in the 1640s. Most famously, in 1657, von Guericke demonstrated that two teams of horses hitched to joined hemispheres of copper (the so-called Magdeburg hemispheres) from which the air had been evacuated could not pull them apart, since the weight of the air outside the spheres was so much greater than that on the inside. (See figure 5.5.)
5.5冯·格里克的马格德堡实验说明
5.5 ILLUSTRATION OF VON GUERICKE’S MAGDEBURG EXPERIMENT
1658 年,波义尔和胡克制造了第一台气泵,并进行了大量实验。(见图5.6)。他们证明了空气具有重量,真空可以存在,并且空气中的某些成分对于呼吸和燃烧必不可少。他们的研究结果于 1660 年发表,题为《新实验:物理力学探讨空气的弹性及其影响》。波义尔使用气泵进行的演示没有冯·格里克的演示那么精彩,例如,将小动物放入玻璃球中,抽出空气,然后观察它们死亡,或者交替在其中放入蜡烛,然后观察火焰熄灭。(有关这些事件的后续描述,见图5.7。)从这些实验中,他得出结论,空气中有某种物质既能维持生命,又能维持燃烧。因此,他的工作与哈维的工作有联系,因为它涉及了生命所需的空气部分,以及它似乎是通过肺部带入体内的。这是人们对“活力论”日益浓厚的兴趣的一部分,活力论旨在寻找将无生命物质转化为活的植物和动物的生命火花。
Boyle and Hooke built their first air pump in 1658 and performed a number of experiments. (See figure 5.6.). They demonstrated that air had weight, that a vacuum could exist, and that some component of air was necessary for respiration and combustion. Their results were published in 1660 as New Experiments Physico-Mechanical Touching the Spring of the Air and Its Effects. Boyle used his air pump for less spectacular demonstrations than von Guericke, for example, placing small animals in the glass sphere, removing the air, and watching them perish, or alternately placing candles therein and watching the flame extinguish. (See figure 5.7 for a later depiction of these events.) From these experiments he concluded that there was something in the air that supported both life and combustion. His work was thus connected to Harvey’s because it touched on what part of air was needed for life and that it seemed to be brought into the body by way of the lungs. This was part of a growing interest in “vitalism,” the search for the spark of life that transformed inanimate matter into living plants and animals.
5.6波义尔的气泵和工具(来自物理力学的新实验) (1660)
5.6 BOYLE’S AIR PUMP AND TOOLS FROM NEW EXPERIMENTS PHYSICO-MECHANICALL (1660)
5.7 空气泵中的鸟类实验,德比的约瑟夫·赖特 (1768)
5.7 AN EXPERIMENT ON A BIRD IN AN AIR PUMP, JOSEPH WRIGHT OF DERBY (1768)
来源:英国伦敦国家美术馆/Bridgeman Images。
Source: National Gallery, London, UK / Bridgeman Images.
波义尔的工作还证明了压力(标题中的“弹簧”)和空气体积之间的关系。 他和胡克使用一个装满水银的 J 形管来表明,增加或减少短杆上的压力会导致长杆中的水银水平升高或降低。(见图5.6。)波义尔认为“根据假设,压力和膨胀是成反比的”;1换句话说,当压力上升时,空气体积会以相同的比例减少,反之亦然。 当波义尔对大气空气进行具体论证时,他认为空气是一种弹性流体,而不是一种元素本身,他指出的基本关系后来转变为PV = K,也就是我们现在所说的“波义尔定律”或有时称为“马略特定律”,以纪念埃德梅·马略特 (1620-84),他于 1676 年独立发现了同样的关系。
Boyle’s work also demonstrated the relationship between pressure (the “spring” of the title) and volume of air. He and Hooke used a j-shaped tube filled with mercury to show that increasing or decreasing the pressure on the short stem raised or lowered the level of mercury in the long stem. (See figure 5.6.) Boyle argued that “according to the Hypothesis, that supposes the pressures and expansions to be in reciprocal proportion”;1 in other words, as pressure goes up, the volume of air goes down in equal proportion and vice versa. While Boyle was making a specific argument about atmospheric air, which he considered an elastic fluid, not an element in itself, the basic relationship he pointed out was later transformed into PV = K, what we now call “Boyle’s Law” or occasionally “Mariotte’s Law” after Edmé Mariotte (1620–84), who independently found the same relationship in 1676.
不幸的是,波义尔的气泵问题重重。它漏气严重,因此无法真正抽出内部的所有空气。此外,尽管他发表了有关他的仪器及其操作的详细说明,并附有示意图,但欧洲其他自然哲学家无法复制他的成果。自然哲学家兼道德家托马斯·霍布斯(1588-1679)严厉批评了波义尔和胡克的工作。霍布斯声称气泵无法工作,而且它绝不像他们声称的那样代表真空。尽管霍布斯提出了许多合理的论点,但波义尔在社会和科学上的地位不断上升,确保他在这场争论中处于胜利的一方。
Unfortunately, Boyle’s air pump was plagued with problems. It leaked quite badly, so that it was not really possible to evacuate all the air from the interior. Also, although he published detailed accounts of his instrument and its operation, complete with schematic diagrams, other natural philosophers across Europe could not replicate his results. Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), a natural philosopher as well as a moralist, severely criticized the work of Boyle and Hooke. Hobbes claimed that the air pump did not work and that it in no way represented a vacuum, as they had claimed. Although Hobbes presented many sound arguments, Boyle’s rising status, both socially and scientifically, ensured that his was the winning side of this disagreement.
尽管存在设备问题,但从波义尔开始,可重复性主张就成为实验计划的基础。也就是说,自然哲学家开始声称实验是有用的,并且产生真实而确定的结果,正是因为它们不依赖于实验者,而是任何人都可以重复。气泵被视为透明的;观察者和被观察的自然方面之间没有任何障碍。换句话说,仪器实验的客观性意识形态源于波义尔对气泵的研究。我们现代对实验的依赖——以及对可重复性的依赖——部分是基于波义尔和皇家学会对霍布斯和其他怀疑论者的胜利。实验的“证明”(即自然真实状态的证据)过去和现在都是一个强有力的想法,即使它有哲学缺陷。许多事情使得对自然的无中介观点成为不可能,但由于波义尔及其证人的地位,气泵变成了“黑匣子”。也就是说,气泵和其他实验仪器被认为是中立和客观的,毫无疑问地揭示了自然的状态。例如,当我们看温度计来决定出门穿什么样的外套时,我们已经接受了一种特定的温度概念。温度计不是一个没有偏见的物体,而是体现了关于量化自然的哲学思想。对于不熟悉温度概念的人来说,温度计可能是一个毫无意义的设备。这并不意味着温度计所揭示的内容是错误的,而是所有科学仪器都代表了一套关于世界的信念体系。
Despite equipment problems, the claim of replicability became fundamental to the experimental program from Boyle on. That is, natural philosophers began to claim that experiments were useful and produced true and certain results precisely because they were not dependent on the experimenter but could be repeated by anyone. The air pump was to be seen as transparent; nothing stood between the observer and the aspect of nature being observed. In other words, an ideology of the objectivity of instrumental experiment arose from Boyle’s work with the air pump. Our modern reliance on experimentation – and on replicability – is in part based on the triumph of Boyle and the Royal Society over Hobbes and other skeptics. That “proof” (that is, evidence of the true state of nature) results from experimentation was, and is, a powerful idea, even if it has philosophical flaws. Many things make an unmediated view of nature impossible, but because of Boyle’s status and the status of his witnesses, the air pump became “black-boxed.” That is, the air pump and other experimental instruments were considered neutral and objective, unproblematically revealing nature’s state. For example, when we look at a thermometer to help us decide what kind of coat to wear outside, we have accepted a particular concept of temperature. The thermometer is not an unbiased object but embodies a philosophical idea about the quantification of nature. To someone unfamiliar with the concept of temperature, a thermometer would be a meaningless device. This does not mean that what the thermometer reveals is false but that all scientific instruments represent a system of beliefs about the world.
在十七世纪,人们设计了其他仪器(通常称为哲学仪器)和实验程序,它们都与波义尔的工作有着相同的意识形态立场。波义尔本人使用了埃万杰利斯塔·托里拆利(1608-47 年)于 1644 年开发的气压计,其他人也效仿他研究空气的重量。托里拆利将水银(水银)灌入不同的玻璃管中,将其倒置在盆中,发现所有玻璃管都保持恒定的水平。托里拆利声称水银上方的空间,即波义尔所说的“托里拆利空间”,是真空,并认为“我们生活在空气元素海洋的底部,通过毫无疑问的实验可以知道空气是有重量的。” 2他还预测,如果一个人上升到更高的高度,空气的重量会减轻,水银柱会进一步下降。数学家布莱斯·帕斯卡采纳了这一预测。帕斯卡首先尝试复制托里拆利的仪器实验,但事实证明这是一项艰巨的任务。他最终成功了,用的是一根水银柱和一根大得多的水柱。这引发了一场关于真空存在可能性的激烈争论,许多著名神学家对此予以强烈否认。为了避免这场争论,转而集中精力研究空气的重量问题,1648 年,帕斯卡带着气压计爬上了法国克莱蒙他姐夫家附近的一座山。果然,爬得越高,水银柱越低,顶部的“托里拆利空间”就越大管。由于帕斯卡此后不久就陷入了信仰危机,从自然哲学转向灵性,因此这项调查的结果直到他去世后才为人所知,并在他死后出版了《空气质量的平衡特性》(1663 年)。这项工作与波义尔的著作一起,为下个世纪建立了一个实验研究计划,并展示了哲学工具的力量和“客观性”。
During the seventeenth century, other instruments (often called philosophical instruments) and experimental programs were devised, all sharing this ideological stand with Boyle’s work. Boyle himself used the barometer, developed in 1644 by Evangelista Torricelli (1608–47), and others followed this lead in investigating the weight of air. Torricelli filled different glass tubes with quicksilver (mercury), inverted them into a basin, and discovered that all the tubes maintained a constant level. Torricelli claimed that the space above the mercury, the “Torricellian space” as Boyle called it, was a vacuum and argued that “we live submerged at the bottom of an ocean of the element air, which by unquestioned experiments is known to have weight.”2 He also predicted that if one ascended to higher altitudes, the weight of air would be less and the column of mercury would descend further. This prediction was taken up by the mathematician Blaise Pascal. Pascal first worked to replicate Torricelli’s instrumental experiment, which proved a difficult task. He eventually succeeded, both with a column of mercury and with a much larger one of water. This resulted in a heated debate about the possibility of a vacuum, strongly denied by a number of leading theologians. To avoid this discussion and concentrate instead on the question of the weight of air, in 1648 Pascal took the barometer up a mountain near his brother-in-law’s home in Clermont, France. Sure enough, the higher the ascent, the lower the column of mercury and the larger the “Torricellian space” at the top of the tube. Because Pascal soon thereafter had a crisis of faith and turned from natural philosophy to spirituality, the results of this investigation were not known until after his death, with the posthumously published Traités de l’équilibre des liqueurs et de la pesanteur de la masse de l’air (1663). This work, with Boyle’s, set up an experimental research program for the coming century, as well as demonstrating the power and “objectivity” of philosophical instruments.
显微镜也许是十七世纪最具创新性的哲学工具,它最早是在十七世纪的第一个十年发明的。随着望远镜成功地将远处的景象拉近,一些不知名的仪器制造商(可能是荷兰人)制造了用于将微小物体放大的仪器。五位以惊人的观察和发现而闻名的显微镜学家是范列文虎克、胡克、马尔皮基、斯瓦默丹和格鲁。安东尼·范列文虎克(1632-1723)是代尔夫特的一名商人,他首先将这些放大装置用于各种物质,最著名的是男性精液,他声称从中观察到了运动中的小动物。这导致了一系列写给皇家学会的有趣信件。罗伯特·胡克转向显微镜学家最喜欢的主题——昆虫、种子和植物——并通过雕刻在他畅销的、插图丰富的书《显微图谱》( 1665 年)中捕捉到各种放大现象的一些令人惊叹的图像。 (见图5.8)
Perhaps the most innovative philosophical instrument of the seventeenth century was the microscope, first developed in the first decade of the century. Following the success of the telescope to bring distant sights closer, unknown instrument makers, probably in the Netherlands, produced instruments designed to greatly magnify the very small. The five microscopists best known for their startling observations and discoveries were van Leeuwenhoek, Hooke, Malpighi, Swammerdam, and Grew. Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), a merchant in Delft, first turned these magnifying devices on a variety of substances, most famously male semen, where he claimed to observe small animalcules in motion. This resulted in a series of interesting letters to the Royal Society. Robert Hooke turned to the favorite subjects of microscopists – insects, seeds, and plants – and captured some stunning images of various enlarged phenomena through engravings in his bestselling, lavishly illustrated book, Micrographia (1665). (See figure 5.8.)
5.8罗伯特·胡克的《显微图谱》(1665 年)中的插图
5.8 ILLUSTRATION FROM ROBERT HOOKE’S MICROGRAPHIA (1665)
意大利解剖学家马尔皮基将显微镜应用于人体,除了胚胎学研究外,他还发现了毛细血管及其在血液循环中的作用。阿姆斯特丹的扬·斯瓦默丹(1637-80 年)推翻了当时关于昆虫变态的理论,而英国人尼希米·格鲁(1641-1712 年)发现了植物的细胞结构。这五位科学家都成功地克服了早期人们对该仪器的怀疑,即它在揭示事物的同时,也在创造和伪装事物,并提出了自然哲学界所追求的理论和观察结果。到了 18 世纪,人们发现,微小到可以观察到,而科学家不必担心仪器本身会干扰。
The Italian anatomist Malpighi turned the microscope on the human body and, in addition to his embryological work, discovered capillaries and their role in the circulation of the blood. Jan Swammerdam of Amsterdam (1637–80) disproved contemporary theories about the metamorphosis of insects, while the Englishman Nehemiah Grew (1641–1712) found the cellular structure of plants. All five successfully overcame early suspicions that the instrument was creating and disguising as much as it was revealing to produce theories and observations much sought after by the natural philosophical community. By the eighteenth century the vanishingly small was seen to be observable, without scientists worrying about any interference from the apparatus itself.
艾萨克·牛顿也在实验(和实验仪器)作为一种合法方法的发展中发挥了作用。从他的奇迹之年开始,他基于一系列简单而优雅的实验发展了光的理论。由于与胡克在光学方面发生了长达数十年的争论,他拒绝出版,但胡克于 1703 年去世。牛顿的《光学》于 1704 年出版。与《原理》不同,《光学》是用英文写的,语言简单,并且布局合理,任何读过这本书并买得起几件光学设备(如棱镜、镜子和透镜)的人都可以重现实验。甚至比哈维或波义尔(他们同样在印刷品中解释了他们的程序)更甚的是,牛顿成为新实验方法的典范。这本书大获成功,被热切的读者抢购一空,并在一年内被翻译成法语、德语和意大利语。它几乎一直在印刷,直到今天。
Isaac Newton also played a part in the development of experiment (and experimental instruments) as a legitimate methodology. Beginning during his annus mirabilis he developed a theory of light based on a series of simple and elegant experiments. Because of a decades-long dispute with Hooke about optics, he refused to publish, but in 1703 Hooke died. Newton’s Opticks came out in 1704. Unlike the Principia, the Opticks was written in English, in simple language, and laid out so that the experiments could be recreated by anyone who could read the book and afford a few pieces of optical equipment such as prisms, mirrors, and lenses. Even more than Harvey or Boyle, who had likewise explained their procedures in print, Newton became the model for the new experimental method. It was a smash hit, snapped up by an eager public and translated into French, German, and Italian within the year. It has been in print almost continuously to the present day.
牛顿对光学研究做出了贡献,这一研究可以追溯到中世纪和早期的阿拉伯自然哲学家。他还在开普勒的工作基础上进行了进一步的探索,开普勒认为光以直线传播,因此可以用数学方法描述光的路径。这使得托马斯·哈里奥特(约 1560-1621 年)、勒内·笛卡尔和威勒布罗德·斯内尔(1580-1626 年)等几位自然哲学家发展了折射正弦定律,该定律指出,当一束光从一种透明介质传播到另一种透明介质(例如空气到水)时,入射(原始)光线角度的正弦除以折射光线角度的正弦等于一个常数。虽然这是一个有用且可证明的关系,但它导致了关于光的性质的分歧。它是穿过物质的运动(即波)吗?还是光是由粒子组成的?光是如何传播的?它能在真空中传播吗?十七世纪七十年代,惠更斯发展了光的波动理论,他认为波前的概念代表了光的传播路径。
Newton was contributing to a long tradition of optics research, stretching back to the Middle Ages and earlier Arabic natural philosophers. He was also building on the work of Kepler, who had argued that light traveled in rectilinear rays, enabling a mathematical description of its path. This allowed several natural philosophers, including Thomas Harriot (c. 1560–1621), René Descartes, and Willebrord Snell (1580–1626), to develop the sine law of refraction, which stated that when a ray of light passes from one transparent medium to another (such as air to water), the sine of the angle of the incident (original) ray divided by the sine of the angle of the refracted ray equals a constant. While this was a useful and demonstrable relationship, it led to a disagreement about the nature of light. Was it a motion through matter (that is, a wave)? Or was light made of particles? How did light travel? Could it travel in a vacuum? During the 1670s Huygens developed a wave theory of light in which he argued that the idea of a wave front represented the path of the light.
牛顿批评了波动理论,主要是因为它似乎与开普勒提出的光线直线性相矛盾。牛顿认为光是粒子,并通过一系列精妙的实验证明了这一点。通过将一束阳光穿过一系列棱镜,他证明了白光不是纯光,而是多种颜色(光谱)的合成光。他的证明被称为“关键实验”,即证实假设的证明。牛顿注意到,穿过棱镜的光被弄脏了变成一个上下都有颜色的长方形。自古以来,人们就认为这种效果是由于白光被破坏造成的。如果是这样,那么有理由认为,让一些有色光穿过第二个棱镜,破坏程度会增加。于是,牛顿让光穿过一个棱镜,然后让少量有色光通过狭缝,再穿过第二个棱镜。光的颜色没有变化。换句话说,没有增加或减少任何东西(见图5.9)。为了证实这一点,他还将两个棱镜放在一起,第一个棱镜将光分开,第二个棱镜(一个倒置的棱镜)将所有光带聚集在一起,产生一个白光点。
Newton criticized this wave theory, largely because it seemed to contradict the rectilinear nature of rays put forward by Kepler. Newton argued that light was corpuscular and proved it to his own satisfaction with a series of elegant experiments. By passing a beam of sunlight through a series of prisms, he demonstrated that white light was not pure light, as had been supposed, but rather was a composite of many colors (the spectrum). His demonstration has been called the experimentum crusis or crucial experiment, the demonstration that confirms the hypothesis. What Newton noticed was that light passing through a prism smeared into an oblong with colors at top and bottom. It had been assumed since antiquity that such an effect was the result of some corruption of the white light. If this was the case, it seemed reasonable to assume that by passing some colored light through a second prism, the degree of corruption would be increased. So, Newton passed light through a prism, then allowed a small amount of colored light to project through a slit, and then through a second prism. There was no change in the color of the light. In other words, nothing was added to or taken away (see figure 5.9). To confirm this, he also placed two prisms together so that the first separated the light and the second, an inverted prism, gathered all the bands back together, producing a spot of white light.
5.9牛顿双棱镜实验
5.9 NEWTON’S DOUBLE PRISM EXPERIMENT
阳光穿过棱镜“A”照射到屏幕上。光谱的一部分产生单色光,该光在狭缝“x”处穿过屏幕,继续照射到第二个屏幕上,第二个屏幕穿过狭缝“y”,到达第二个棱镜“B”。光最终投射到墙上。牛顿的实验表明,单色光无法进一步分解成光谱,因此白光实际上是多种颜色的混合。
Sunlight passes through the prism “A” and falls on the screen. A portion of the spectrum produces light of a single color that passes through the screen at slit “x” and continues on to the second screen, which goes through slit “y” and on to the second prism “B.” The light is finally projected on to the wall. Newton’s experiment demonstrated that light of a single color could not be further broken up into the spectrum and thus white light was actually a mixture of colors.
牛顿认为光是由粒子组成的,粒子的速度不同,导致光在通过棱镜时折射角度不同。例如,如果所有红光都是由性质相似的小粒子组成的,那么当红光通过连续的棱镜时,似乎没有任何机制可以改变红光粒子的性质。
Newton believed that light was composed of particles and that their differing speeds resulted in a differing angle of refraction when passed through a prism. If, for example, all red light was composed of small particles of similar nature, there seemed to be no mechanism to change the nature of the red particles as they passed through successive prisms.
这个问题引起了激烈的争论,法国人追随笛卡尔和惠更斯的脚步,主张光的波动理论,但牛顿的光学为整个十八世纪英国新的光学研究学派奠定了基础。
This was hotly debated, the French following Descartes’s and Huygen’s lead in preferring a wave theory of light, but Newton’s Opticks provided a foundation for a new English school of optical research throughout the eighteenth century.
牛顿的《光学》还为后来的自然哲学家制定了一个研究计划。这本书以一系列“疑问”结束,这些疑问是牛顿对此很感兴趣,但他没有时间进行充分研究。此外,由于牛顿的同行强烈反对“理论”科学,即不经过实验证明就提出哲学思想,牛顿将他的想法表达为一系列问题。这个清单超出了光学的范围,涵盖了与光有关的一系列科学领域,例如光与热的关系、传输介质对光行为的影响以及宇宙的状况。近 100 年来,许多对寻找重要研究领域感兴趣的自然哲学家和科学家都是从这些问题之一开始研究的。例如,在问题 18(《光学》第四版)中,牛顿注意到两个温度计,一个在真空中,另一个在密闭的空气容器中,似乎都以大致相同的速度升温或降温。这让牛顿认为一定存在一种“比空气更稀薄、更微妙”的传播介质,它像振动一样传递热量。这一观察促使许多科学家去寻找无法衡量的流体或以太,这一想法最终由爱因斯坦的研究解决。这也促使其他科学家研究与温度无关的热的性质,最终导致热的动力学理论和热力学定律。
Newton’s Opticks also laid out a research program for natural philosophers who followed him. The book concluded with a series of “Queries,” topics that interested Newton but which he had not had time to fully investigate. In addition, since there was a strong bias among Newton’s peers against “theoretical” science, meaning the presentation of philosophical ideas without experimental demonstration, Newton presented his ideas as a series of questions. This list extended beyond optics, covering a range of scientific areas related to light such as the relationship between light and heat, the effect of the media of transmission on the behavior of light, and the condition of the universe. For close to 100 years many natural philosophers and scientists interested in finding important areas of research started their inquiries by taking on one of these questions. For example, in Query 18 (of the fourth edition of the Opticks), Newton noted that two thermometers, one in a vacuum and the other in a closed container of air, both seemed to heat up and cool down at about the same rate. This suggested to Newton that there must be a medium of propagation “more rare and subtle than the Air” that transmitted heat like a vibration. This observation prompted a number of scientists to look for the imponderable fluid or ether, an idea that was eventually resolved by the work of Einstein. It also got other scientists to investigate the nature of heat as separate from temperature, leading ultimately to the kinetic theory of heat and the laws of thermodynamics.
牛顿提出的最著名的问题之一是 1718 年版中的第 31 个问题。牛顿问道:“物体的微小粒子难道不具有某些能力、优点或力量吗?它们不仅对光线产生反射、折射和偏转作用,而且还相互作用,从而产生很大一部分自然现象?”牛顿接着提出,已知的力(例如重力和电力)可能在粒子的吸引中发挥作用,但未知的力也可能起作用。根据牛顿的说法,通过观察吸引力,应该可以找出控制物质结合和功能方式的吸引力定律。这一思想促成了化学亲和力的概念;大多数化学家使用这一思想来解释物质如何结合。亲和力理论是现代化学的基础概念之一,直到 19 世纪才被价态理论取代。
One of the most famous questions posed by Newton was Query 31 from the 1718 edition. Newton asked: “Have not the small Particles of Bodies certain Powers, Virtues, or Forces by which they act at a distance, not only upon the Rays of Light for reflecting, refracting, and inflecting them, but also upon one another for producing a great Part of the Phenomena of Nature?” Newton goes on to suggest that known forces such as gravity and electricity may play a role in the attraction of particles, but unknown forces may also be at work. By observing attraction, according to Newton, it should be possible to figure out the law of attraction that controls the way matter combines and functions. This idea contributed to the concept of chemical affinity; an idea used by most chemists to explain how matter combined. Affinity theory was one of the foundational concepts of modern chemistry until the nineteenth century when it was replaced by valence theory.
新的仪器、实验以及关于人与自然关系的基本假设对于 17 世纪新科学事业的创立至关重要。同样在这一时期,为培养和支持自然哲学而发展起来的新制度结构也发挥了重要作用。伦敦皇家学会和巴黎皇家科学院3等大会的成立促进了科学界的重大新组织,该组织鼓励自然哲学家制定社会行为准则、关于谁可以从事科学以及什么算作科学的规则,以及关于其事业的世俗用途的陈述。正如伽利略试图将宗教和科学对真理垄断的主张分开一样,这些新的科学协会也是如此。这是科学制度化的开始,它与基于大学的科学不同,也不同于 16 世纪基于宫廷的科学,尽管在很大程度上归功于早期的模式。个别王室宫廷的瓦解使一些自然哲学家迷失了方向。专制主义的兴起,尤其是在法国,导致了对赞助的更加关注,以及首都城市中城市精英和知识文化的兴起。一百五十年的血腥宗教战争使得人们不再从教会中寻求救赎知识,而是寻求一个有地位的安全群体。新兴的有闲阶级寻求的是世俗的合法性和可以做的事情。
The new instruments, experiments, and the underlying assumptions about the relationship between humans and nature were fundamentally important to the creation of a new scientific enterprise in the seventeenth century. Equally important were the new institutional structures that developed in this period for the express purpose of fostering and supporting natural philosophy. The founding of such assemblies as the Royal Society of London and the Académie Royale des Sciences3 in Paris contributed to a dramatic new organization of science, one that encouraged natural philosophers to develop social codes of behavior, rules about who could do science and what counted as science, and statements about the secular usefulness of their enterprise. Just as Galileo had tried to separate religious and scientific claims to the monopoly of truth, so too did these new scientific societies. This was the beginning of the institutionalization of science, different in kind from the university-based science and distinct from the court-based science of the sixteenth century, although owing much to that earlier model. The breakdown of individual princely courts cast some natural philosophers adrift. Growing absolutism, especially in France, led to a more particular focus for patronage, as well as to a growing urban elite and intellectual culture in the capital cities. One hundred and fifty years of bloody religious wars caused people to look elsewhere than the church for salvational knowledge and for a secure group with status. The rising leisured class was looking for secular legitimation and something to do.
大约在 1603 年,第一个世俗科学协会成立,即罗马的 Accademia dei Lincei(猞猁学院)。该组织由费德里科·切西(1585-1630 年)创立,后来成为切西王子,在成立的最初几年里,该组织一直处于高度保密的状态,遭到包括切西的父亲在内的当局的迫害。切西是一个才智充沛、好奇心强的人,他建立了一个范围广泛、想象力丰富的自然历史研究项目。伽利略于 1611 年加入后,学院得到了极大的推动,尤其是伽利略将他的显微镜捐赠给了学院。然而,在哥白尼受到谴责、切西于 1630 年去世以及伽利略受到谴责之后,学院停止运作。1657 年,佛罗伦萨成立了一个科学协会,即 Accademia del Cimento(实验)。这个协会既没有正式的会员制度,也没有章程,存在了十年,是一个由对实验研究感兴趣的人组成的松散组织。它和林切一样,实际上是一个混合体,既不是宫廷组织,也不是自治组织,因为它专注于大公费迪南德二世·德·美第奇和他的兄弟利奥波德亲王的宫廷。
In about 1603 the first secular scientific society was formed, the Accademia dei Lincei (Academy of the Lynx) in Rome. This organization was founded by Federico Cesi (1585–1630), later Prince Cesi, and existed in great secrecy for the first years of its life, persecuted by the authorities including Cesi’s father. Cesi was a man of huge intellectual energy and curiosity, who established a research program in natural history of great scope and imagination. When Galileo joined in 1611, the Accademia was given a major boost, especially since Galileo donated his microscope to it. After the condemnation of Copernicus, however, followed by Cesi’s death in 1630 and Galileo’s condemnation, the Accademia ceased to function. In 1657 a scientific society was founded in Florence, the Accademia del Cimento (of experiments). This society had neither a formal membership nor statutes and existed for ten years as a loose collection of men interested in experimental research. It, like the Lincei, was in reality a hybrid, neither court-based nor autonomous, since it was focused on the court of Grand Duke Ferdinand II de Medici and his brother, Prince Leopold.
17 世纪最著名的科学团体是伦敦皇家学会,它标志着这种新的科学组织形式,也是唯一一个持续运作至今的团体,该学会由皇家特许状于 1662 年成立。关于它的起源有很多争论。在英国内战和随后的空位期,许多对自然哲学、实验主义和自然知识的实用性感兴趣的人非正式地在英国会面。内战的双方是希望维护王权和英国国教自由派圣公会权力的保皇党和主张议会中人民拥有政治权力的议会党,以及清教徒的宿命论神学。皇家学会的历史学家在两个阵营中寻找现代科学的创始人,但主要是在清教徒中。塞缪尔·哈特利布(约 1600-62 年)是一位教育改革家,他从普鲁士来到英国以逃避三十年战争,与议会阵营关系密切,他试图制定一项教育计划,将自然哲学和新的实验方法带给英国知识分子。哈特利布圈子是复辟后负责创建皇家学会的团体之一,尽管他们的路线比哈特利布和他的圈子设想的要保守和精英化得多。事实上,虽然早期的历史学家在激进的宗教和政治中寻找这种新制度结构的起源,但事实似乎是,大多数自然哲学家都渴望找到一种替代当时严重的政治和宗教争议的方法,而自然哲学恰恰提供了第三条道路。
The most famous of the seventeenth-century scientific societies, the one that first marked this new form of scientific organization and the only one that has survived as a continuously operating body to the present day, was the Royal Society of London, established by royal charter in 1662. There is much debate about its origins. A number of people interested in natural philosophy, experimentalism, and the utility of natural knowledge met informally in England during the English Civil War and in the Interregnum that followed. The Civil War was fought between Royalists, who wished to maintain the power of the Crown and the liberal Anglicanism of the Church of England, and Parliamentarians, who argued for the primacy of political power from the people in Parliament and for the predestinarian theology of the Puritans. Historians of the Royal Society have sought founders of modern science in both camps, but most particularly among the Puritans. Samuel Hartlib (c. 1600–62), an educational reformer who came to England from Prussia to escape the Thirty Years’ War and who was closely associated with the Parliamentary camp, tried to develop an educational program to bring natural philosophy and the new experimental method to English intelligentsia. The Hartlib circle was one of the groups responsible for the founding of the Royal Society after the Restoration, although on much more conservative and elite lines than Hartlib and his circle had envisaged. In fact, while earlier historians sought the origins of this new institutional structure in radical religion and politics, the truth seems to be that most natural philosophers were eager to find an alternative to the crippling political and religious controversies of their day and that natural philosophy provided just such a third way.
5.10斯普拉特《皇家学会史》(1667 年)卷首插图
5.10 FRONTISPIECE FROM SPRAT’S HISTORY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY (1667)
随着 1660 年查理二世复辟,来自伦敦、牛津和剑桥在伦敦联合成立了皇家学会。尽管学会获得了国王的特许状,但它是自治的,因此不同于早期的大学、教堂或宫廷科学研究和讨论场所。学会成立时,强烈倾向于培根式的研究哲学,着手采用归纳、合作的方法来发现对国家有益的有用信息。在这里,宫廷哲学家提出的实用主义言论被带入了城市绅士风度。皇家学会第一位官方历史学家托马斯·斯普拉特 (Thomas Sprat) 表示,学会成立的目的是避免清教徒的“热情”和内战期间撕裂国家的宗派争端。尽管斯普拉特并不是一个公正的观察者,但皇家学会似乎确实试图通过当时的宗教和民事分歧找到第三条道路。虽然皇家学会的成员来自不同的宗教背景(从天主教到清教徒),但他们的共同点是希望远离宗教争议,研究自然哲学而不是神学。
With the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, various groups from London, Oxford, and Cambridge came together in London to form the Royal Society. Although it received a charter from the king, it was autonomous and, therefore, different from earlier university, church, or court-based spaces of scientific investigation and discussion. It was founded with a strong inclination toward a Baconian philosophy of research, setting out to employ an inductive, cooperative method in order to discover useful information for the benefit of the nation. Here the rhetoric of utility that emerged with the courtly philosophers was carried into an urban, gentlemanly locale. Thomas Sprat, the first official historian of the Royal Society, said that the Society was founded as a way to avoid the “enthusiasm” of the Puritans and the sectarian disputes that had ripped the country apart during the Civil War. Although Sprat was hardly a disinterested observer, it does seem that the Royal Society attempted to find a third way through the religious and civil disagreements of the period. While Royal Society members included those of many different religious affiliations (from Catholic to Puritan), what they had in common was the desire to keep clear of religious controversy and to do natural philosophy instead of theology.
皇家学会制定了严格的成员选择方法,入会成员必须是现有成员认识并对自然哲学有着浓厚的兴趣。只有一些贵族可以例外,这对于保持学会的精英性质是必不可少的。学会还拒绝让女性加入,尽管纽卡斯尔公爵夫人玛格丽特·卡文迪什 (1623-73) 确实参加了一些会议,并且出版的自然哲学书籍比许多成员加起来还要多。他们也非常不愿意接受商人,而是更喜欢值得信赖的绅士。皇家学会发展了一种把关功能,决定谁有资格参与自然哲学研究。通过他们的第一任通讯秘书亨利·奥尔登堡 (c. 1619-77) 的工作,以及通过他们的期刊《皇家学会哲学学报》(创办于 1665 年,至今仍在出版)的出版,他们还能够确定什么算作适当的自然哲学工作。因此,皇家学会一下子就成为了决定谁可以成为自然哲学家以及什么才是可接受的自然哲学的仲裁者。
The Royal Society developed a strict method of choosing members, who had to be known to existing members and have an active interest in natural philosophy. The exception to this were some aristocrats, necessary to maintain the Society’s elite nature. It also refused to allow women to join, although Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623–73), did attend some meetings and had published more books on natural philosophy than many of the members put together. They were also very hesitant to accept tradespeople, preferring instead the trustworthiness of gentry. The Royal Society developed a gate-keeping function, determining who counted in natural philosophical inquiry. Through the work of their first corresponding secretary, Henry Oldenburg (c. 1619–77) and through the publication of their journal, the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, founded in 1665 and still published today, they also were able to determine what counted as proper natural philosophical work. Thus, in one fell swoop, the Royal Society became the arbiter of just who could be a natural philosopher and what qualified as acceptable natural philosophy.
另一个成功的十七世纪科学协会是以完全不同的方式建立的。法国皇家科学院于 1666 年由路易十四的首席大臣让-巴蒂斯特·科尔伯特在巴黎创立。尽管自 1630 年代以来,一直有一个以马林·梅森神父(1588-1648)为中心的非正式通信网络,但法国皇家科学院是一个自上而下的组织,这是法国专制国家的另一个要素。与皇家学会成员由选举产生且无薪不同,国家任命了 16 名院士,他们作为公务员领取薪水,按照国王及其顾问的要求研究自然界。因此,法国科学院可以看作是科学专业化的根源,因为这是学者作为科学家领取薪水的第一次。由于他们的研究计划由国家制定,他们可以承担超出个人科学家范围的项目。例如,法国科学院赞助了地球表面一角分的测量,从而首次精确测量了地球的大小和到恒星的距离。但从长远来看,它不如皇家学会成功。被任命为院士通常是对一生工作的奖励,而不是对新工作的激励。大多数大型项目都无功而返。它的期刊《Journal des Sçavans》(创刊于 1665 年)主要是重印服务。法国科学院在推动科学成为一项精英且受人尊敬的活动方面做得很好,但它并不是一个赞助创新的地方。
The other successful seventeenth-century scientific society was established in a very different way. The Académie Royale des Sciences was founded in Paris in 1666 by Louis XIV’s chief minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Although there had been an informal network of correspondence centered on Father Marin Mersenne (1588–1648) since the 1630s, the Académie was a top-down organization, another element of the absolutist French state. Unlike the Royal Society, where members were elected and unpaid, the state appointed 16 academicians, paid as civil servants, to investigate the natural world as the king and his advisors required. So the Académie can be seen as the root of the professionalization of science, since this was the first instance where scholars were paid exclusively as scientists. Because their research agenda was set by the state, they could take on projects beyond the scope of individual scientists. For example, the Académie sponsored the measurement of one minute of arc of the Earth’s surface, resulting in the first accurate measurement of the size of the Earth and the distance to the stars. In the long run, however, it was less successful than the Royal Society. An appointment as an Academician was often the reward for a life’s work rather than an incentive to new work. Most of the massive projects came to nothing. Its journal, Journal des Sçavans (founded in 1665), was largely a reprint service. The Académie des Sciences did well as a promoter of science as an elite and respected activity, but it was not a place that sponsored innovation.
这些新的科学协会为科学这一职业创造了四项持久遗产。首先,科学现在被视为一项公共事业,尽管其界限、成员和方法都有着严格的规定。其次,科学的合作性质得到了强调,例如皇家学会赞助的《行业史》和法国科学院研究的《动植物史》。这些事业导致了启蒙运动的观点,即只要组织得当,一切都是可以知道的,并让人们意识到所获得的知识的实用性。当莱布尼茨于 1700 年创立柏林科学院时,他选择了theoria cum praxi(理论与实践)作为其座右铭。
These new scientific societies created four enduring legacies for science as a profession. First, science was now seen as a public endeavor, although with carefully defined limits, members, and methods. Second, its cooperative nature was stressed, through projects such as the History of the Trades sponsored by the Royal Society and the History of Plants and Animals investigated by the Académie. Such undertakings led to the Enlightenment view that all was knowable if properly organized and to the sense of the utility of the knowledge gained. When Leibniz founded the Berlin Academy of Science in 1700, he chose as its motto theoria cum praxi, theory with practice.
第三,科学交流成为科学事业的一个基本要素。虽然自然哲学家之间的书信(例如伽利略和开普勒之间的书信)或梅森神父的书信圈内的书信对于维持学者群体至关重要,但十七世纪科学期刊的建立既扩大了这一群体,也控制了这一群体。这些期刊充当了真实性和可靠性的保证,即使问题是由社会决定的并且存在激烈的争议。它们还向更广泛的受众传播科学思想和实验,让普通人通过“虚拟见证”参与科学。这导致了人们对自然研究的广泛兴趣,以及更大的接受新的科学思想,并认为科学家是值得尊敬甚至令人敬畏的人。
Third, scientific communications were established as an essential element of the scientific enterprise. While it had been true that letters between natural philosophers (for example, between Galileo and Kepler) or within the letter-writing circle of Father Mersenne had been integral to maintaining a community of scholars, the establishment of scientific journals in the seventeenth century both broadened and controlled this community. These journals acted as a guarantor of veracity and reliability, even while issues were socially determined and highly contested. They also broadcast scientific ideas and experiments to a much larger audience, allowing ordinary people to take part in science by “virtual witnessing.” This led to a wider interest in the investigation of nature and a greater acceptance of new scientific ideas and of scientists as respectable, if awe-inspiring, people.
最后,科学协会将科学家确立为专家,通过会员身份提出和评判自然问题。在法国尤其如此,在那里,当选为科学院院士是人们一生工作的顶峰。但同样在皇家学会内部,一些自然哲学家,如牛顿或波义尔,在学会内外都被视为专家和重要学者。他们之下是收藏家,他们发现有趣的自然现象可以报道,但将理论留给他们的上级,就像培根在所罗门之家所阐述的那样。因此,十七世纪的科学协会建立了关于科学的意识形态,其实践至今仍然存在。
Finally, scientific societies established scientists as experts, qualified by membership to pose and judge questions about nature. This was especially true in France, where election to the Académie was the culmination of one’s life’s work. But equally within the Royal Society, some natural philosophers, such as Newton or Boyle, were respected both within and outside the society as experts and significant scholars. Below them were the collectors, those who found interesting natural phenomena to report but who left theorizing to their betters, much as Bacon had laid out in Solomon’s House. Thus, the seventeenth-century scientific societies established ideologies about science and its practice is still with us today.
在十六世纪,自然哲学家与熟练工匠之间的联系极大地促进了关于自然的新思想和新问题的研究。在十七世纪也是如此,尽管焦点变成了城市商业中心,而不是王室。正如科学家们自己在这些新的、世俗的、非宫廷的环境中与他们的同行学者建立联系一样,他们通常在主要的贸易中心,他们也更接近造船厂、印刷厂、仪器制造商和图表制造商。然而,像皇家学会的《行业史》这样的项目,一场彻头彻尾的灾难,向我们展示了这些工匠和学者之间的交流比人们想象的要复杂得多。《行业史》试图找出英国所有不同的制造业行业是如何进行的,以便自然哲学家能够找到一种更合理的科学方法来制造商品。毫不奇怪,这些商人对于自己的商业秘密非常避而不谈,而戴假发的绅士们提出的建议充其量也无济于事,最坏的情况则是危险的。要找到一种新的合作方式来将工匠的技能与学者的精确度结合起来,还需要一些时间。
During the sixteenth century, connections between natural philosophers and skilled artisans aided greatly in the development of new ideas about nature and new problems to be investigated. This was also true during the seventeenth century, although the focus became the urban mercantile center, rather than the princely court. Just as the scientists themselves were forming associations with their fellow scholars in these new, secular, non-court settings, often in major trading centers, they were also closer to shipyards, print shops, instrument makers, and chart makers. However, projects like the Royal Society’s History of the Trades, an unmitigated disaster, shows us that the communication between these artisans and scholars was more complicated than one might think. The History of the Trades attempted to find out how all the different manufacturing trades in England were performed, so that natural philosophers might find a more rational scientific way to manufacture goods. Not surprisingly, the tradesmen were remarkably unforthcoming about their trade secrets, and the suggestions made by the bewigged gentlemen were at best unhelpful and at worst positively dangerous. It would take some time for a new collaborative approach to bring together the skills of craftspeople and the precision of scholars.
对 17 世纪科学的讨论主要集中在男性科学家的贡献上;然而,这一时期女性试图在自然界研究中留下自己的印记。康威子爵夫人安妮·芬奇 (1631-79) 和纽卡斯尔公爵夫人玛格丽特·卡文迪什都对打入这个以前由神职人员和男性主导的领域感兴趣。同样的社会和思想动荡使科学成为绅士的追求,也为女性提供了参与自然哲学的短暂机会。贝特苏亚·马金 (c. 1612-c. 1674) 写了一篇关于复兴古代淑女教育的文章(1673),主张女性学习自然哲学的权利和能力。安妮·康威与莱布尼茨通信并分享了她的“单子”理论,该理论成为他宇宙粒子哲学的基础。瑞典的克里斯蒂娜等贵族女性参与了自然哲学对话。玛格丽特·纽卡斯尔写了许多自然哲学书籍,并参加了皇家学会会议。她还创作了被称为第一部英国科幻小说的作品《新世界描述,名为炽热的世界》(1666 年)。然而,这些女性是例外。十七和十八世纪,女性在科学领域和其他领域都受到限制。
Most of this discussion of seventeenth-century science has focused on the contributions of men of science; this was, however, a period when women were attempting to make their mark on the study of the natural world. Both Anne Finch, Viscountess of Conway (1631–79), and Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, were interested in breaking into this previously clerical and male preserve. The same social and intellectual upheaval that made science a gentlemanly pursuit gave women a brief window of opportunity to become involved in natural philosophy. Bethsua Makin (c. 1612–c. 1674) wrote An Essay to Revive the Ancient Education of Gentlewomen (1673), arguing for the right and ability of women to study natural philosophy. Anne Conway corresponded with Leibniz and shared with him her theory of “monads” that became the basis of his particulate philosophy of the universe. Noblewomen such as Christina of Sweden engaged in natural philosophical conversations. Margaret Newcastle wrote many books of natural philosophy and attended a meeting of the Royal Society. She also composed what has been called the first English work of science fiction, The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World (1666). These women, however, were exceptions. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw restrictions on women’s sphere in science as in much else.
这种限制源于人们对性别自然的态度普遍转变,以及关于女性在社会和生育中的角色理论的变化。在前工业社会中,绝大多数人与自然有着密切的共生关系,自然被视为女性,是养育母亲。理想是共存,而不是控制。例如,采矿要么是对地球的掠夺,要么是生孩子,因为矿物质是在地球的子宫中形成的。因此,在开始采矿之前,必须进行牺牲、祈祷和道歉。帕拉塞尔苏斯的活力论、新柏拉图主义者的自然魔法和亚里士多德的自然主义都赋予了女性对自然的贡献和对自然的应有贡献。
Such restriction came from a general change in attitude to a gendered nature and from changing theories about women’s role in society and in reproduction. In a pre-industrial society the vast majority of people existed in a close and symbiotic relationship with nature, which was perceived as female, a nurturing mother. The ideal was coexistence, not control. Mining, for example, was either the rape of the Earth or the delivery of a child, since minerals developed in the Earth’s womb. Therefore, sacrifices, prayers, and apologies were necessary before mining could begin. The vitalism of Paracelsus, the natural magic of the neo-Platonists, and the naturalism of Aristotle all gave the female contribution of nature and to nature its due.
然而,在近代早期的欧洲,这种情况开始发生变化。随着学者们开始将地球视为可利用的,地球的形象变成了一个必须被驯服的野性女性。与此同时,女性正在失去社会经济地位,变得不那么自主,更无法挣钱或在手工艺行会中独立运作。越来越多的人指责巫术,尤其是针对女性。性和生育的科学理论发生了变化。在中世纪,女性被认为是提供某种东西来启动生育(亚里士多德认为是物质,中世纪作家认为是女性精液),而在十六和十七世纪,哈维等理论家声称女性只是一个容器,是后代的孵化器,因此是完全被动的。同样,女性不再被视为平等的合作伙伴性交,而是诱惑,引诱男人进行有害于健康和智力健康的性活动。女性也失去了她们在生育方面的专业作用,因为女助产士被有执照的男外科医生或男助产士所取代,他们使用新技术——产钳来管理自然。最后,随着机械哲学的引入,自然的灵魂被剥离,只留下无生命的原子;自然死了,女性通过生育获得活力的权利也变得无效。换句话说,十七世纪的自然哲学表达了一种剥削的意识形态,一种可以根据人类的规范构建的世界形象。
In early modern Europe, however, this began to change. As scholars began to view the Earth as exploitable, its image changed to a wild female who must be tamed. At the same time women were losing socioeconomic status, becoming less autonomous and less able to earn wages or operate independently in craft guilds. Increasingly, accusations of witchcraft were leveled, especially against women. Scientific theories of sexuality and procreation changed. Where during the Middle Ages women had been recognized as providing something to initiate procreation (matter for Aristotle, female semen for medieval authors), during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries theorists such as Harvey claimed that women were merely a receptacle, the incubator of offspring, and, as such, were totally passive. Likewise, women were no longer seen as equal partners in intercourse but rather seducers, enticing men into sexual activity that was deleterious to their health and intellectual well-being. Women were also losing their professional role in reproduction, as female midwives were replaced by licensed male surgeons or male midwives, who used their new technology of forceps to manage nature. Finally, with the introduction of the Mechanical Philosophy, introduced partly to deal with perceived disorder in the world, the soul of nature was stripped away, leaving only inanimate atoms; nature was dead, and women’s claim to vitality through reproduction was rendered void. In other words, the natural philosophy of the seventeenth century articulated an ideology of exploitation, an image of the world that could be constructed according to man’s specifications.
我们可以通过两位科学家的职业生涯来追溯对女性自然哲学家的态度变化:玛丽亚·西比拉·梅里安(1647-1717)和玛丽亚·温克尔曼(1670-1720)。她们的职业生涯一方面表明了女性参与自然探究的可能性,另一方面表明了通过建立新的科学协会机构,女性的参与受到了限制。
We can trace this change in attitude toward women as natural philosophers through the careers of two scientists: Maria Sybilla Merian (1647–1717) and Maria Winkelmann (1670–1720). Their careers demonstrate, on the one hand, the possibility of women’s involvement in natural inquiry and, on the other, the restrictions to their participation through the creation of the new institutions of scientific societies.
玛丽亚·梅里安的职业生涯表明,女性在科学领域,尤其是基于创业模式的科学领域,可以取得巨大成功。梅里安出生于德国的一个艺术家和雕刻家家庭。从小她就对绘画昆虫和植物感兴趣。嫁给继父的学徒后,她成为了著名的昆虫和植物插画家,出版了广受好评、雕刻精美的书籍。1699 年,阿姆斯特丹市资助她前往苏里南旅行,在那里她观察并记录了许多新的植物和动物。回国后,她根据这些发现创作了一本畅销书,这本书在她死后出版。因此,梅里安的职业生涯走上了一条非常成功的旧学徒和商业模式的道路。然而,她死后,她的作品引起了新自然历史学家和哲学家群体的注意,她的声誉也因此受损。她关于苏里南的书受到了强烈的批评,人们谴责她的分类系统,尤其是她相信奴隶对这些植物和昆虫的使用知识。因此,在十八世纪科学界日益盛行的厌女和种族主义态度中,她的声誉大大受损。
Maria Merian’s career illustrates the success a woman could have in a scientific field, particularly one based on an entrepreneurial model. Merian was born in Germany into a family of artists and engravers. From an early age she was interested in drawing and painting insects and plants. After marrying her stepfather’s apprentice she became a renowned insect and plant illustrator, publishing well-received and beautifully engraved books. In 1699 the city of Amsterdam sponsored her travels to Suriname, where she observed and recorded many new plants and animals. On her return she created a bestselling book of these findings, which was published posthumously. Merian’s career thus followed a very successful path in the older apprenticeship and mercantile model. However, after her death her work came to the attention of the new community of natural historians and philosophers, and her reputation suffered. Her Suriname book was strongly critiqued, condemned for her classification system and more particularly for her credence of slave knowledge about the use of these plants and insects. Her reputation, therefore, was greatly diminished in the increasingly misogynistic and racist attitudes of the eighteenth-century scientific community.
玛丽亚·温克尔曼是天文学家的女儿,后来嫁给了戈特弗里德·基希(1692 年嫁给)并与父亲和丈夫在柏林进行望远镜观测。1702 年,温克尔曼独立发现了一颗彗星并发表了她的发现。她全身心投入到她所选择的科学领域,但在 1710 年基尔希去世后,她的地位急剧下降。柏林皇家科学院拒绝让她继续担任她丈夫的科学院官方天文学家,最终任命了她能力较差的儿子。即使是莱布尼茨的支持也不足以帮助她保住自己的地位;科学院不愿意开创先例,让一名女性担任如此重要的工作。在这一点上,他们效仿了皇家学会的做法,皇家学会也曾讨论过是否允许玛格丽特·卡文迪什加入,并抵制了这一不受欢迎的先例。最终,科学院对她在天文台的存在感到尴尬,强迫她离开;由于没有大型望远镜,她无法继续她的观测工作。事实证明,新的科学组织——科学院对女性的限制比以前的学徒模式更为严格。
Maria Winkelmann was the daughter of and later wife of astronomers (she married Gottfried Kirch in 1692) and worked with both her father and husband on telescopic observations in Berlin. In 1702 Winkelmann independently discovered a comet and published her findings. She was a full participant in her chosen scientific field, but after Kirch’s death in 1710 her status fell sharply. The Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin refused to allow her to continue in her husband’s position as official astronomer to the Academy, eventually appointing her less capable son instead. Even Leibniz’s support was insufficient to help her maintain her position; the Academy was unwilling to set a precedent by allowing a woman to hold such an important job. In this they followed the lead of the Royal Society, which had likewise debated allowing Margaret Cavendish to join and had resisted the undesirable precedent. Eventually the Academy, embarrassed by her presence at the observatory, forced her to leave the premises; without access to large telescopes, she was unable to continue her observational work. The new organization of science, the Academy, proved itself to be more restrictive for women than the earlier apprenticeship model had been.
新的利用自然和对自然优越性的意识形态反映了人们对知识和自然态度的转变。尽管新知识和新方法论至关重要,但对现代科学的创造来说,更为重要的是科学讨论的新场所以及 17 世纪社会建立的新意识形态和行为准则。科学以前是神职人员和学者的财产,但 17 世纪的动荡——宗教和政治战争、经济冲突——为一群新的绅士实践者创造了机会,使他们能够制定新的科学行为标准和实践科学的新场所。这在英国尤其如此,17 世纪末摆脱专制主义的举措使有闲阶级获得了一定的结社自由,而内战及其后果引发的争议使绅士们渴望文明,并希望找到另一种方式来确定事实。
The new ideology of exploitation of and superiority toward nature reflected a changing attitude toward knowledge and nature. As crucial as the new knowledge and methodologies proved to be, of even greater significance in the creation of modern science were the new locales of scientific discussion and the new ideology and code of conduct the seventeenth-century societies established. Science had previously been the property of clerics and academics, but the upheaval of the seventeenth century – its religious and political wars, its economic strife – created an opportunity for a new group of gentlemen practitioners to develop a new standard for scientific conduct and a new place to practice science. This was particularly true in England, where the move away from absolutism at the end of the century allowed a certain freedom of association among the leisured classes and where the controversies associated with the Civil War and its aftermath gave gentlemen a desire for civility and an alternate way to establish matters of fact.
罗伯特·波义尔在科学思想的转变中发挥了特别重要的作用。首先,他在私人场所设立了实验室,即进行科学实验和研究的空间,特别是在伦敦时尚的 Pall Mall 的姐姐的联排别墅里。这个空间的隐私至关重要,因为波义尔能够控制场地内的访问和行为。也就是说,他可以允许拥有适当资格的人,有资格见证他的实验,并保证知道正确的行为方式。同样,私人自然历史博物馆在这一时期在整个欧洲发展起来,作为私人空间,也属于贵族和绅士,他们控制着参观者,并通过允许参观者观察来赋予他们地位。
Robert Boyle was particularly instrumental in this transformation of scientific ideology. First, he set up laboratories, spaces for scientific experiment and investigation, in private locations, particularly in his sister’s townhouse in fashionable Pall Mall in London. The privacy of this space was paramount, since Boyle was able to control access and behavior within the site. That is, he could allow in people with the proper credentials, worthy to witness his experiments and guaranteed to know the proper way to behave. Similarly, private museums of natural history developed in this period all over Europe as private spaces, also belonging to aristocrats and gentry, who controlled visitors and bestowed on those visitors status through their permission to observe.
由于这个空间是私密的,波义尔可以决定谁有资格观察、参与实验并参与自然知识的创造。他制定了一些标准,后来被皇家学会和其他科学机构采用。寻求进入的人必须是波义尔或他所在圈子认识的,因此必须是一位绅士。这个人还应该是一位博学的观察者,能够验证实验知识并见证事实,而不仅仅是呆呆地看着。不过,观察者来自有闲阶级比拥有哲学知识更重要。冯·格里克著名的半球实验就清楚地表明了这一点,该实验因一大群绅士旁观者的存在而获得了创造关于空气重量的自然知识的地位(如图 5.5所示)。同样,皇家学会的重要作用之一是为各种实验演示提供可靠的听众,从而确定其真实性。
Because this space was private, Boyle could decide who had the proper credentials to observe, to take part in experiments, and to participate in the making of natural knowledge. He developed a number of criteria, later used by the Royal Society and other scientific bodies. The person seeking entry had to be known to Boyle or his circle and, thus, was a gentleman. This person should also be a knowledgeable observer, one who was able to validate the experimental knowledge and to witness matters of fact, rather than just gawk. Still, it was more important that the observer be of the leisured classes than that he or she be philosophically knowledgeable. This was clear from von Guericke’s famous hemisphere experiment, which gained its status as one that created natural knowledge about the weight of the air by the presence of a large group of gentry onlookers (as can be seen in figure 5.5). Similarly, one of the important roles of the Royal Society was to provide a credible audience for various experimental demonstrations, thereby establishing their veracity.
由于这些实验和知识展示是在绅士们创造和使用的空间中进行的,因此绅士行为准则被采纳为科学家的行为准则。例如,绅士们主张私人空间的开放性和可访问性,同时他们也在严格控制进入这些地方的权限。同样,科学实验室在发展过程中声称是开放的公共空间,但只允许那些拥有知识和资格的人进入。绅士们非常关心荣誉问题,并认为他们言而有信。绅士从不撒谎,这就是为什么任何作弊的暗示都会引起极大的愤怒(并引发决斗)。这就是为什么事实可以通过几位绅士的见证来确定,这些绅士当然会看到调查的真相并将其准确地报告给其他人。科学家的言而有信也是他的保证。科学家不会作弊或撒谎,因此他们在社会中扮演着完全值得信赖的角色。英国皇家学会与波义尔合作创建了一个科学家团体,他们可以决定什么是真理和现实,并有权对现实发表声明。
Because these experiments and demonstrations of knowledge were performed in spaces created and used by gentlemen, gentlemanly codes of behavior were adopted as the codes of behavior for scientists. For example, gentlemen argued for the openness and accessibility of private space at the same time that they were carefully controlling access to such places. Likewise, scientific laboratories as they developed claimed to be open public space while limiting access to those with the knowledge and credentials to be there. Gentlemen were very concerned with issues of honor and argued that their word was their bond. A gentleman never lied, which was why there was much outrage (and duels fought) at any suggestion of cheating. This was why matters of fact could be established through the witnessing of a few gentlemen, who would, of course, see the truth of the investigation and report it accurately to others. A scientist’s word was also his bond. Scientists would not cheat or lie, and thus they claimed the role of a completely trustworthy enclave in society. The Royal Society in concert with Boyle created a community of scientists who could decide what constituted truth and reality and who were allowed to make pronouncements on that reality.
到 1727 年牛顿去世时,自然哲学家的地位已发生了很大变化。自然哲学家的形象与古希腊的“纯粹”知识分子、伊斯兰智者,甚至伽利略和开普勒时代的廷臣相去甚远。剑桥大学三一学院的门厅里竖立着一尊纪念牛顿的半身雕像。(见图5.11。)它并没有像早期学生时代的肖像或铸币厂厂长那样,把他描绘成一位博学的学者或社会的重要成员。相反,它把他描绘成一位现代的凯撒,他以坚定的目光和高贵的面容征服了他所看到的一切。凯撒占领了罗马并建立了帝国,而牛顿则征服了大自然并使其成为人类的统治对象。诗人亚历山大·蒲柏这样描述牛顿的一生:“自然和自然法则隐藏在黑夜中/上帝说,‘让牛顿存在吧’,然后一切都变得光明。” 4
By the time Newton died in 1727, the place of the natural philosopher had changed considerably. The image of the natural philosopher had shifted even further away from the “pure” intellectuals of ancient Greece, the Islamic wise men, or even the courtiers of Galileo and Kepler’s era. A bust commemorating Newton sits in the entrance hall of Trinity College, Cambridge. (See figure 5.11.) It does not present him as an erudite scholar or as an important member of society, as had earlier portraits from his student days, or as Master of the Mint. Rather, it presents him as a modern Caesar who, with firm gaze and noble brow, has conquered all he surveyed. While Caesar captured Rome and gained an empire, Newton conquered Nature and made it man’s dominion. The poet Alexander Pope said of Newton’s life: “Nature and Nature’s Laws lay hid in night / God said, ‘Let Newton be,’ and all was light.”4
5.11牛顿,基于剑桥大学三一学院的路易斯·弗朗索瓦·鲁比利亚克的牛顿半身像
5.11 NEWTON, BASED ON THE LOUIS FRANÇOIS ROUBILIAC BUST OF NEWTON AT TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
到 17 世纪末,现代科学的许多方面已经确立。这一科学革命时期的哲学家们在本世纪初一直在努力解决认识论问题,并在世纪末确定了一种说真话的行为模式。其中一些思想家发展了新的想法、理论和实验发现,为下个世纪制定了一系列研究计划。他们还引入了一种新的科学方法论,包括自然的数学化以及对实验的新信心和依赖。新的世俗科学机构如雨后春笋般涌现;随之而来的是他们对其知识对国家和经济的效用的阐述。最后,来自有闲阶级的世俗绅士对自然哲学研究的主导确保了一种性别和阶级行为准则。这些因素导致了一种新的科学文化,并迅速呈现出明显的现代面貌。所有这些变化共同构成了一场科学革命。
By the end of the seventeenth century many aspects of modern science had been established. Philosophers of this period of scientific revolution had wrestled with questions of epistemology at the beginning of the century and decided on a behavioral model of truth-telling by the end. Some of these thinkers developed new ideas, theories, and experimental discoveries, setting in place a series of research programs for the coming century. They had also introduced a new methodology of science, which included the mathematization of nature and a new confidence in, and reliance on, experimentation. New secular scientific institutions sprang up; with them came an articulation of the utility of their knowledge to the state and the economy. Finally, the domination of natural philosophical inquiry by secular gentlemen from the leisured classes ensured a code of behavior that was gendered and class-based. These ingredients led to a new scientific culture that rapidly assumed a recognizably modern face. All these changes together constituted a scientific revolution.
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1.罗伯特·波义尔,《关于空气的弹性和重量的学说辩护》(伦敦:M. Flescher,1682 年),58。
1. Robert Boyle, A Defence of the Doctrine Touching the Spring and Weight of the Air (London: M. Flescher, 1682), 58.
2.埃万杰利斯塔·托里拆利,《致米开朗基罗·利玛窦的信,1644 年》,载于《科学革命百科全书》,威尔伯·阿普尔鲍姆主编(纽约:加兰出版社,2000 年),第 647 页。
2. Evangelista Torricelli, “Letter to Michelangelo Ricci, 1644” in Encyclopedia of the Scientific Revolution, ed. Wilber Applebaum (New York: Garland, 2000), 647.
3.该组织的名称会根据非正式或正式用途而变化。历史学家称其为“Académie des Sciences”,但其正式名称为 Académie Royale des Sciences。更复杂的是,尽管它仍然是同一个组织,但名称却多次更改。在本文中,我们将使用历史学家常用的术语,即 Académie des Sciences。
3. The name of this organization changes according to informal or official use. Historians say “Académie des Sciences,” although officially it is called Académie Royale des Sciences. To make things more complicated, the name changed several times even though it remained the same group. Within the text, we will use the term commonly used by historians, that is, the Académie des Sciences.
4.亚历山大·蒲柏,《艾萨克·牛顿爵士墓志铭》,藏于威斯敏斯特大教堂,1735 年。
4. Alexander Pope, “Epitaph Intended for Sir Isaac Newton,” in Westminster Abbey, 1735.
1727 年,弗朗索瓦-玛丽·阿鲁埃 (1694-1778) 目睹了艾萨克·牛顿爵士的盛大国葬,并向知识界报告了科学在英国社会中的地位和重要性。阿鲁埃,也就是众所周知的伏尔泰,是法国哲学和社会改革运动的领军人物之一,他积极推动牛顿科学在十八世纪欧洲大陆的传播。伏尔泰和许多其他改革者深受牛顿著作和英国政治制度自由的影响,力求将自然哲学中最好的理性思想运用到人际关系问题中。伏尔泰在《论英国人的哲学书信》 (1734 年)中谈到了英国人的自由,在与夏特莱-洛蒙侯爵夫人埃米莉·德·布勒特伊 (1706-49 年) 合著的《牛顿哲学原理》(1738 年)中谈到了牛顿。对于许多启蒙思想家来说,自然哲学既是改革的典范,也是改革的工具。
In 1727 François-Marie Arouet (1694–1778) witnessed the opulent state funeral of Sir Isaac Newton and reported to the intellectual world the status and importance of science in English society. Arouet, better known as Voltaire, was one of the leading lights of the French philosophical and social reform movement and was well placed to encourage the dissemination of Newtonian science to eighteenth-century continental circles. Voltaire and many other reformers were deeply influenced by the work of Newton and by the freedom of the English political system and sought to bring the best of rational thought from natural philosophy to the question of human relations. Voltaire wrote about the freedom of the English in his Philosophical Letters on the English (1734) and about Newton in his Elements of Philosophy of Newton (1738), written with Emilie de Breteuil, the Marquise du Châtelet-Lomont (1706–49). For many Enlightenment thinkers natural philosophy was both a model for, and a tool of, reform.
改革精神是双向的。正如哲学家希望改变社会一样,新自然哲学家希望改革科学,彻底改变研究实践,改变科学话语的语言,并将他们的发现和专业知识服务于国家。许多自然哲学家从牛顿那里获得了他们的研究议程和方法,因此十八世纪的数学和物理科学,特别是那些与力和物质有关的科学,很大程度上归功于这位受人尊敬的英国科学家。
The spirit of reform worked in both directions. Just as the philosophes hoped to transform society, the new natural philosophers hoped to reform science, revolutionizing the practice of investigation, changing the language of scientific discourse, and placing their discoveries and expertise at the service of the state. Many natural philosophers took their research agenda and methodology from Newton, and so the mathematical and physical sciences of the eighteenth century, especially those concerned with force and matter, owed much to the venerable English scientist.
十八世纪是商业蓬勃发展的时期,许多欧洲国家都扩大了贸易帝国和殖民地。随着这种扩张,欧洲人接触了对世界有着不同知识和理解的文化和民族,因此这一时期标志着知识从更广阔的世界传播回欧洲的重要时刻,同时也将欧洲的科学和哲学思想带到了其他国家。欧洲人对新发现的动植物制成的产品很感兴趣,因为这些产品在这场新的商业革命中可以带来丰厚的利润。因此,许多对研究自然感兴趣的人越来越多地为商业企业或国家服务,这并不奇怪。因此,这一时期科学研究出现了两个相互矛盾的因素。一方面,自由、民主和宽容的哲学问题导致许多自然哲学家信奉激进的政治立场。另一方面,科学家越来越多地从国家或商业中获取指导,并将他们的专业知识用于开发全球资源,结果他们对国家财富和国家权力产生了越来越大的影响。由于法国大革命期间理性沦为暴政,许多更为激进的努力在世纪末的暴力中黯然失色,但到了十九世纪,科学已成为现代国家运作的一个强大而必要的因素。
The eighteenth century was a time of burgeoning mercantile growth, as many European nations expanded their trade empires and colonies. With this expansion, Europeans encountered cultures and peoples with different knowledge and understanding of the world, and so this period marks an important moment of the circulation of knowledge from the wider world back to Europe, as well as bringing European ideas of science and philosophy to other countries. Europeans were interested in products made from newly discovered flora and fauna, since such products could be very profitable in this new commercial revolution. It is, therefore, no surprise that many of those interested in studying nature increasingly did so in the service of commercial ventures or the state. Thus, two contradictory elements of scientific study developed in this period. On the one hand, the philosophical issues of freedom, democracy, and toleration led many natural philosophers to espouse radical political positions. On the other, scientists increasingly took their directions from the state or commerce and added their expertise to the exploitation of worldwide resources, with the result that they exerted a greater and greater influence on the wealth of nations and the power of the state. Many of the more radical efforts were overshadowed by the violence at the end of the century as reason fell to tyranny during the French Revolution, but by the nineteenth century science was a powerful and necessary ingredient for the operation of the modern state.
启蒙运动的定义与科学革命的定义一样,一直受到历史学家的激烈争论。不同的国家经历了不同程度的改革和对改革的抵制。然而,启蒙运动的核心是两个巨大的概念。第一个是对人类状况的重新评估,导致了普遍人权的概念。第二个是对进步必然性的信念。两者都引发了对社会、经济和政府改革的呼声,并且都在很大程度上归功于自然哲学的概念变化。启蒙运动对新科学最明显的贡献之一,特别是遵循牛顿方法,是对自然法则的根本普遍性的信仰。牛顿已经证明万有引力定律和运动定律将宇宙统一起来。没有特权领域,也没有例外;自然法则对国王和农民都是一样的。因此,存在类似的普遍法则,并且可以找到它们来管理人际关系。许多哲学家主张法律、政府、经济、社会生活和宗教中人类互动的普遍规律。他们不仅仅是社会批评家;他们称采取行动纠正过去的错误。他们像弗朗西斯·培根一样,挑战传统权威的概念,并希望用基于理性和普遍人权法则的规则取而代之。
The definition of the Enlightenment has been as hotly contested by historians as that of the scientific revolution. Different countries experienced different degrees of reform and resistance to reform. Still, at the heart of the Enlightenment were two monumental concepts. The first was a reappraisal of the human condition that led to the conception of universal human rights. The second was a belief in the inevitability of progress. Both led to cries for social, economic, and governmental reforms, and both owed much to conceptual changes in natural philosophy. One of the most obvious Enlightenment debts to the New Science, particularly following the Newtonian approach, was the belief in an underlying universality of natural laws. Newton had demonstrated that the law of gravitation and the laws of motion united the universe. There were no privileged realms and no exceptions; the laws of nature were the same for kings and peasants. It followed that similar universal laws existed and could be found to govern human relations. A number of philosophers argued for universal laws of human interaction in law, government, economics, social life, and religion. They were more than social critics; they called for action to amend the errors of the past. Like Francis Bacon, they challenged the very concept of traditional authority and hoped to replace it with rule based on reason and universal laws of human rights.
导致启蒙运动的哲学传统在牛顿还活着的时候就已形成。托马斯·霍布斯(1588-1679)与罗伯特·波义尔就科学知识的本质展开辩论,并认为主权者是保护人们免受彼此侵害的必要条件,而要获得这种安全,人们必须放弃个人权利。波义尔对科学方法的看法最终获胜,而霍布斯的政治观点使他成为一个危险人物。他可能因其政治立场而被拒绝加入皇家学会。约翰·洛克(1632-1704)也驳斥了霍布斯对政府的立场,他主张生命、自由和财产享有权是自然的和不可剥夺的。洛克在其著名著作《政府论》(1690 年)中捍卫了人民拒绝不想要的政府的权利,认为政府有责任保护人民的权利,人民有权利甚至有义务罢免任何不能保护他们固有的普遍权利的政府。
The philosophical tradition that led to the Enlightenment took shape when Newton was still alive. Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) debated the nature of scientific knowledge with Robert Boyle and argued that a sovereign was necessary to protect people from each other and that to gain this security people had to give up personal rights. Boyle’s view on scientific method won, while Hobbes’s political views made him someone dangerous to know. He may have been rejected for membership in the Royal Society because of his political stance. John Locke (1632–1704) also refuted Hobbes’s position on government by arguing for a natural and unalienable right to life, liberty, and the enjoyment of property. In his famous work Two Treatises of Government (1690), Locke defended the rights of the people to reject unwanted government, arguing that it was the duty of government to protect the rights of people and that the people had a right or even duty to depose any government that failed to protect their inherent and universal rights.
历史学家现在对洛克是否对 17 世纪英国政治进程产生了直接影响表示怀疑,但随着越来越多的哲学家寻求与牛顿宇宙结构相似的社会基本结构,他的思想在 18 世纪得到了广泛传播。当亚当·斯密 (1723-90) 撰写有关经济和社会互动的文章时,尤其是在《国富论》(1776 年)中,他的分析基于市场法则,就像牛顿宇宙一样,是自我调节的。市场“看不见的手”并不是对幽灵般的商业精神的描述,而是一种机械经济学模型,他希望这种模型能够像牛顿的太阳系模型一样可靠和确定。
Historians have now cast doubt on whether Locke had much of an immediate impact on the course of English politics in the seventeenth century, but his ideas gained currency in the eighteenth century as more philosophers sought fundamental structures in society that paralleled Newton’s structure of the universe. When Adam Smith (1723–90) wrote on economics and social interaction, particularly in The Wealth of Nations (1776), his analysis was based on laws of the marketplace that, like the Newtonian universe, were self-regulating. The “invisible hand” of the marketplace was not a description of a ghostly spirit of commerce but a mechanistic model of economics that he hoped would be as reliable and certain as the Newtonian model of the solar system.
启蒙运动哲学家从自然哲学中汲取的更微妙的养分是对进步的信仰。从最简单的层面来说,这就是相信明天会比今天更好。伏尔泰在小说《老实人》中嘲笑莱布尼茨对这种乐观观点的表述,认为他是一个相信“所有可能世界中最好的”的学究。然而,这一概念的真正自然哲学表述要复杂得多。自然哲学家们并不模糊地相信一个更好的世界,而是相信他们将来会比现在更好地理解支配自然的规则。事实上,他们相信他们会了解自然的一切,就像钟表匠可以识别宇宙机器的所有组成部分一样,他们能够识别宇宙机器的所有组成部分。并重新组装时钟的所有部件。时钟的这个形象与牛顿力学非常吻合,同时也表明工业力量的不断增强,可以制造出壁炉钟和海军天文钟的精密机械装置。
A more subtle debt that the philosophers of the Enlightenment owed to natural philosophy was a belief in progress. At its simplest level, this was a belief that tomorrow would be better than today. Leibniz’s formulation of this optimistic view was ridiculed by Voltaire, in his novel Candide, as that of a pedant believing in “the best of all possible worlds.” However, the true natural philosophical articulation of this concept was much more complex. Rather than a vague belief in a better world, natural philosophers believed that they would understand the rules that governed nature better in the future than they did in the present. In fact, they believed that they would know everything about nature, identifying all the components of the machinery of the universe just as a clockmaker could identify and reassemble all the parts of a clock. This image of a clock fit well with Newtonian mechanics while at the same time was indicative of the growing power of industry, which could manufacture the precise and delicate mechanism of the mantel clock and the naval chronometer.
启蒙运动中最雄心勃勃、影响最深远的思想项目是丹尼斯·狄德罗 (1713-84) 的《百科全书》。 1751 年第一卷出版时引起轰动。 法国审查机关禁书并吊销了出版商的执照。 法国总检察长称这是一场违背公共道德的阴谋,教皇则宣布任何购买或阅读该作品的人都将被逐出教会。 当局的强烈抗议导致狄德罗的一些贡献者退出了该项目。 事实上,他的联合编辑、研究天体力学的物理学家让·达朗贝尔 (1717-83) 因这场争议而辞职。 然而,没有什么比一场争议风暴和一丝丑闻更能增加人们对这种作品的吸引力了。由于轰动一时,《百科全书》很快成为欧洲热议话题,并获得了广泛关注。狄德罗在艰苦的条件下完成了这部巨作,最终出版了 28 卷,其中 17 卷文本出版于 1765 年,11 卷插图出版于 1772 年,完成了整个系列。全套书售出 20,000 多套,还有数千本删节版、部分版和盗版版在市面上流通。
The most ambitious and far-reaching intellectual project of the Enlightenment was Denis Diderot’s (1713–84) Encyclopédie. When the first volume was published in 1751, it caused a sensation. French censors banned the book and revoked the publisher’s license. France’s attorney general called it a conspiracy against public morals, and the pope issued a declaration that anyone buying or reading the work would be excommunicated. The outcry from authority was so strong that it led some of Diderot’s contributors to drop out of the project. In fact, his co-editor Jean d’Alembert (1717–83), a physicist who had worked on celestial mechanics, resigned over the controversy. There is nothing like a storm of controversy and whiff of scandal, however, to increase the desirability of such a work. Because of the furor, the Encyclopédie was soon the talk of Europe and reached a wide audience. Diderot had worked on, often under difficult circumstances, a monumental work that eventually reached 28 volumes, with 17 volumes of text appearing by 1765 and 11 volumes of illustrations finishing the series in 1772. It sold over 20,000 full sets, with thousands of abridged, partial, and pirated volumes in circulation as well.
狄德罗的目标就是为所有受过教育的欧洲人提供有关现代思想各个主题的最新信息。《百科全书》的精神是普及知识和相信进步;许多文章都包含对科学、技术和哲学的最新理解,并配有精彩的插图。狄德罗认为,通过提供这些知识,整个公民社会都可以得到改变。正如人文主义者相信以学习古典文学为基础的教育可以让人成为好公民一样,狄德罗认为,理解科学及其揭示的新知识将创造一个公正的社会。《百科全书》充满了社会批判、现代工业的推广,以及对科学发现为社会带来启迪的力量的信仰。它既是艺术、工艺和文学现状的汇编,也是对改革和进步的大胆呼吁。它还提出了自然秩序和自然研究的秩序。
Diderot’s aim was nothing less than providing to all educated Europeans the most current information on every subject of modern thought. The spirit of the Encyclopédie was one of universal knowledge and a belief in progress; many of the articles contained the latest understanding of science, technology, and philosophy, complete with wonderful illustrations. Diderot believed that by making this knowledge available, the whole of civil society could be transformed. Just as the humanists had believed that education, based on learning the classics, made a person a good citizen, Diderot held that understanding science and the new knowledge it revealed would create a just society. The Encyclopédie was infused with social criticism, the promotion of modern industry, and a faith in the power of scientific discovery to bring enlightenment to society. It was both a compendium of the state of arts, crafts, and letters and a bold call for reform and progress. It also suggested order in nature and order in the study of nature.
启蒙时代也是自然哲学开始流入知识阶层少数精英以外的一般文化的时期。长期以来,宫廷哲学家为自然哲学家和权力中心之间提供了联系,但除了少数例外,这些联系只存在于贵族和精英社交圈中。然而,伦敦皇家学会和巴黎科学院的成立为自然哲学在大学、教堂或宫廷之外开辟了空间。随着十八世纪王室宫廷数量的减少,这个新的自然哲学讨论和探究场所的建立为日益普及的科学事业提供了市场和人才库。
The age of Enlightenment was also the period when natural philosophy began to flow into the general culture beyond a small elite of the intellectual class. The courtly philosophers had long provided a connection between natural philosophers and the seats of power, but with a few exceptions these connections existed only in aristocratic and elite social circles. The founding of the Royal Society in London, however, and the Paris Académie des Sciences had created a space for natural philosophy outside the university, the church, or the courts. With a declining number of princely courts in the eighteenth century, the creation of this new site for natural philosophical discussion and inquiry offered both a market and a reservoir of talent for an increasingly popularized scientific enterprise.
6.1狄德罗《百科全书》(1772 年)中的化学实验室插图
6.1 ILLUSTRATION SHOWING A CHEMICAL LABORATORY FROM DIDEROT’S ENCYCLOPÉDIE (1772)
两大科学学会被整个欧洲效仿,因此到 18 世纪末,几乎每个大城市都有科学学会,大多数国家都有官方的国家机构。(见图6.2。)根据莱布尼茨的建议,普鲁士科学院于 1700 年成立,成为欧洲最古老的科学院之一。奥地利科学院始于 1713 年,而俄罗斯科学院由彼得大帝于 1724 年在圣彼得堡创立。丹麦皇家科学与文学学院的历史可以追溯到 1742 年,布鲁塞尔帝国和皇家科学与文学学院成立于在 1772 年奥地利统治期间。本世纪中叶,许多德国学会成立,包括巴伐利亚科学与人文学院 (1759 年) 和哥廷根科学院 (1751 年)。意大利学会包括 1735 年成立的托斯卡纳科学与文学学院和 1782 年在维罗纳成立的国家科学院 (称为四十院)。
The two major scientific societies were copied across Europe, so by the end of the eighteenth century there was a scientific society in almost every major city and official national bodies in most countries. (See figure 6.2.) On the advice of Leibniz, the Prussian Academy of Sciences was created in 1700, making it one of the oldest in Europe. The Austrian Academy of Sciences began in 1713, while the Russian Academy of Science was founded by Peter the Great in St. Petersburg in 1724. The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters traces its roots back to 1742, and the Imperial and Royal Academy of Sciences and Letters of Brussels was founded during Austrian rule in 1772. A number of German societies including the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (1759) and the Academy of Sciences of Göttingen (1751) were created mid-century. Italian societies included the Tuscan Academy of Sciences and Letters established in 1735 and the National Academy of Sciences (known as The Forty), founded in Verona in 1782.
6.2 1660 年至 1800 年欧洲的科学协会
6.2 SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES IN EUROPE, 1660–1800
启蒙思想、革命和科学的交汇在 1743 年由本杰明·富兰克林(1706-90)和其他人(包括乔治·华盛顿和托马斯·杰斐逊)在北美创立的美国哲学学会中尤为明显。美国艺术与科学学院成立于 1780 年,其创始人包括约翰·亚当斯和约翰·汉考克,后来本杰明·富兰克林、约翰·J·奥杜邦和路易斯·阿加西也成为其成员。这些新科学组织对自然哲学的改革与即将成为新美国共和国开国元勋的人们进行的政府改革之间的联系是他们整体哲学和态度不可或缺的一部分。
The intersection of Enlightenment ideology, revolution, and science was particularly evident in the founding in North America of the American Philosophical Society in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) and others, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, founded in 1780, counted among its founders John Adams and John Hancock and later listed Benjamin Franklin, John J. Audubon, and Louis Agassiz among its members. The connection between the reform of natural philosophy through these new scientific organizations and the reform of government by the men soon to be the founding fathers of the new American republic was integral to their overall philosophy and attitudes.
由于识字水平的提高和启蒙思想的传播,自然哲学成为一门更加时髦的学科。在英国,科学讨论的场所是咖啡馆和演讲厅,这些是日益壮大的城市中产阶级的聚集地,最初是在伦敦,后来是在工业化催生的省级城市。这些新的受众对自然哲学家提供的信息着迷,尤其是进步的信息和这些知识的实用性。像让·德萨格利埃(1683-1784)这样的示威者向人们讲述了牛顿和他的力学,并使用与类似工业创新密切相关的机器和模型展示了新的科学原理。这些示威和讲座不仅提供了一种礼貌而理性的语言来思考社会正在发生的变革,包括政治变革,尤其是技术变革,而且也是男女都可接受的道德消遣。对于一神论派和贵格会等宗教异见者来说,对上帝理性力量的介绍表明了这种知识的实用性,并刺激了异见学院中科学教学的增长,到本世纪末,科学教学已成为科学教育的重要来源。
Due to rising levels of literacy and the spread of Enlightenment ideology, natural philosophy became a much more fashionable subject. In Britain, the locales of scientific discourse were the coffee houses and lecture halls, gathering places for the growing urban middle classes, at first in London and later in the provincial cities spawned by industrialization. This new audience was fascinated by the information natural philosophers provided, especially by the message of progress and the utility of such knowledge. Demonstrators like Jean Desaguliers (1683–1784) told people about Newton and his mechanics and exhibited new scientific principles using machines and models, which were closely tied to similar industrial innovations. These demonstrations and lectures provided not only a polite and rational language with which to think about the transformations taking place in society, both political and, especially, technological, but were also a morally acceptable diversion for both men and women. For religious dissenters, like Unitarians and Quakers, these introductions to God’s rational power showed the utility of such knowledge and spurred the growth of science teaching at dissenter colleges, an important source of science education by the end of the century.
在法国,沙龙文化的发展也鼓励了人们对自然哲学的兴趣,将其作为礼貌而理性的讨论主题。沙龙模仿了王室的某些方面,但接纳了背景更为广泛的人。它们通常由社会有影响力的成员创建,将艺术家、作家、音乐家和哲学家与商业和政府精英聚集在一起。知识分子受邀来娱乐和传播信息。因此,沙龙也是吸引赞助人的渠道,尤其是对于那些缺乏进入国王宫廷所需的资源或头衔的聪明而雄心勃勃的年轻人。正是针对这些听众,伏尔泰的朋友弗朗西斯科·阿尔加罗蒂伯爵(1712-64 年)撰写了《女士的牛顿主义》 (Il Newtonianismo per le dame),该书于 1735 年出版。尽管伏尔泰今天以其政治和道德著作最为人铭记,但他和他的伴侣埃米莉·德·布勒特伊,夏特莱侯爵(1706-49 年)出版了《牛顿哲学要素》(1738 年)。夏特莱侯爵于 1759 年出版了牛顿《自然哲学的数学原理》译本,其中包含评论和能量守恒定律的推导,至今仍是牛顿开创性著作最重要的法语版本。
In France, this same interest in natural philosophy as a subject of polite and rational discourse was encouraged by the development of salon culture. The salons mimicked certain aspects of the princely courts but included people of a much wider range of backgrounds. They were often created by influential members of society and brought together artists, writers, musicians, and philosophers with the elites of commerce and government. The intellectuals were invited both to entertain and to inform. As such, the salons were also useful as conduits for patronage, especially for the bright and ambitious young men who lacked the resources or titles necessary to attend the king’s court. It was for this audience that Voltaire’s friend Count Francesco Algarotti (1712–64) wrote Il Newtonianismo per le dame (Newtonianism for the Ladies), published in 1735. Although Voltaire is best remembered today for his political and moral writings, he and his partner Émilie de Breteuil, Marquis du Châtelet (1706–49) published the Éléments de la philosophie de Newton (1738). Du Châtelet’s translation of Newton’s Principia published in 1759 with commentary and a derivation of the idea of the conservation of energy, remains the most important French version of Newton’s seminal work.
当时最主要的沙龙之一由杰弗林夫人主持。她本名玛丽·特蕾莎·罗代(1699-1777),嫁给了一位富有的丈夫,尤其是在他去世后,她利用自己的财富和家境将有趣而重要的人聚集在一起。杰弗林夫人是孟德斯鸠的密友,与俄罗斯叶卡捷琳娜大帝通信,并招待了本杰明·富兰克林和托马斯·杰斐逊。她是狄德罗和达朗贝尔的朋友,并在经济和社会上支持百科全书。当时住在巴黎或访问巴黎的大多数知识分子都会参加她每周一或周三的例行会议。
One of the leading salons of the period was presided over by Madame Geoffrin. Born Marie Thérèse Rodet (1699–1777), she had married a wealthy husband and, particularly after his death, used her wealth and home to bring together interesting and important people. Madame Geoffrin was a close friend of Montesquieu, corresponded with Catherine the Great of Russia, and entertained both Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. She was a friend to Diderot and d’Alembert and supported the Encyclopédie financially and socially. Most of the intellectuals of the day who lived in or visited Paris attended her regular Monday or Wednesday meetings.
法国沙龙文化和英国自然哲学示威中对自然哲学的兴趣的一个很好的例子是对电的迷恋。自从威廉·吉尔伯特在十六世纪发现了这种神秘物质以来,人们已经知道它的存在好几代了,但它并不容易被研究。奥托·冯·格里克在十七世纪发明了一种机器,它通过旋转一个球来产生电荷硫磺,然后用手或布摩擦。这可以控制静电荷的产生,但作为实验装置,其用途仍然有限。在 18 世纪 50 年代,许多人设计了使用旋转玻璃盘来产生电荷的发电机,最典型的例子是约翰·卡斯伯森 (John Cuthbertson,1743-1821) 制造的大型装置,可以产生约 500,000 伏的电荷。
A good example of the interest in natural philosophy evident in salon culture in France and natural philosophical demonstrations in Britain was the fascination with electricity. The existence of this mysterious substance had been known for generations, since William Gilbert identified it in the sixteenth century, but it was not easily subjected to investigation. Otto von Guericke in the seventeenth century had created a machine that generated an electrical charge by spinning a ball of sulfur and rubbing it with the hands or a cloth. This allowed for a controlled production of a static charge but was still of limited use as an experimental device. In the 1750s a number of people designed generators that used spinning glass disks to generate the charge, the ultimate example being a massive device built by John Cuthbertson (1743–1821) that could generate a charge of about 500,000 volts.
小型静电发生器经常用于演示,例如以带电男孩为特色的演示。在演示中,一个孩子被用丝线悬挂在天花板上,产生电荷并传递给他,然后他利用静电移动小物体或对参观者施加轻微电击。带电男孩显然是一种娱乐,就像基于在人与人之间传递电击的游戏或给椅子通电以电击毫无防备的参观者一样。(见图6.3)但这种演示有一个意义:它们经常被用来说明电流、电路和绝缘等概念。
Smaller static generators were frequently used for demonstrations such as the one featuring an electrified boy. In it, a child was suspended from the ceiling by silk cords, a charge was generated and communicated to him, and he then moved small objects using the static electricity or delivered mild shocks to visitors. The electrified boy was clearly an entertainment, as were games based on passing a shock from person to person or electrifying chairs to zap unsuspecting visitors. (See figure 6.3) But there was a point to such demonstrations: they were often used to illustrate concepts such as electrical flow, circuits, and insulation.
6.3带电男孩
6.3 THE ELECTRIFIED BOY
男孩身上带上静电(杆子位于“n”处),用丝线悬挂,他吸引纸片来演示电的通信。摘自约翰·加布里埃尔·多佩尔迈尔 (Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr) 的《从自然界的奇妙现象到新发现的现象》 (1774)。
Charged with static electricity (rod at “n”) and suspended by silk cords, the boy attracted bits of paper to demonstrate the communication of electricity. From Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr, Neu-entdeckte Phaenomena von bewunderswürdigen Würckungen der Natur (1774).
最初对电的研究是定性的,专注于寻找电、观察其行为以及学习如何制造电。富兰克林 1752 年的风筝实验是寻找电现象过程中最著名的事件,并已成为民间神话。富兰克林很可能确实放过风筝,作为一项实验来确定闪电是否是电,但他没有留下关于这一事件的直接记录,也没有留下任何关于事件发生日期的迹象。最清晰的记录来自约瑟夫·普里斯特利对富兰克林记录的报道,但这是事发 15 年后发表的。可以肯定的是,富兰克林并没有像人们普遍描述的那样在雷雨中放风筝。他在暴风雨云来临时放风筝,理由是电的积累必须先于闪电放电。他将风筝绳系在钥匙顶部环的一侧,将丝带系在另一侧,切断了电流的路径,他小心翼翼地保持丝带干燥(从而绝缘)。他将一根铁丝从钥匙拉到地面。当他注意到风筝绳的麻线纤维竖立起来并相互排斥时,他将指关节放在钥匙附近,结果受到了电击。虽然这是令人信服的证据,但他还用这根铁丝给莱顿瓶充电,以证明闪电电荷与传统发电收集的电荷相同。
The initial research on electricity was qualitative, concentrating on finding electricity, observing its behavior, and learning how to manufacture it. Franklin’s 1752 kite experiment is the most famous episode in the hunt for electrical phenomena and has risen to the status of popular mythology. It is likely that Franklin did fly a kite as an experiment to determine whether lightning was electricity, but he left no direct account of the event nor any indication of the date it might have taken place. The clearest record comes from Joseph Priestley’s reporting of Franklin’s account, but this was published 15 years after the fact. What is certain is that Franklin did not fly a kite in the middle of a thunderstorm as is popularly depicted. He flew a kite at the approach of storm clouds, reasoning that the accumulation of electricity must precede the discharge of lightning. He broke the path of the electricity by attaching the kite rope to one side of the loop on top of a key and a silk ribbon to the other side, which he was careful to keep dry (and thus insulated). He ran an iron wire from the key to the ground. When he noticed the fibers of the hemp twine of the kite rope stand up and repel each other, he put his knuckle near the key and got a shock. While this was convincing evidence, he also used the wire to charge a Leyden jar to demonstrate that lightning charge was identical to that collected by conventional generation.
虽然定性工作是了解电力的必要第一步,但它对于了解电力的工作原理或可以做什么的价值有限莱顿瓶的发明是控制这种神秘能量的重要一步。它并不是一个人发现的,而是几乎同时被三个人发现:德国的埃瓦尔德·尤尔根·克莱斯特 (Ewald Jürgen Kleist, 1700–48) 和荷兰的彼得·范·穆申布鲁克 (Pieter van Musschenbroek, 1692–1761) 和安德烈亚斯·库纳乌斯 (Andreas Cunaeus, 1712–88)。虽然克莱斯特可能是第一个使用装满水的罐子来收集电荷的人,但描述该仪器的人却是穆申布鲁克。由于这项工作是在莱顿进行的,所以随着时间的推移,大多数人都采用了这个名字(尽管在德国它有时仍被称为von Kleistiche Flasche)。玻璃罐用金属箔包裹(这被认为可以防止电通过玻璃泄漏),并装满水。用钉子或金属棒刺穿塞子,密封罐子。静电发生器产生的电流通过杆传导至内部并储存起来。当杆接触导体时,电流就会放电。(见图6.4。)
While qualitative work was a necessary first step in understanding electricity, it was of limited value in understanding how electricity worked or what could be done with it. In particular, the problem of complete discharge made electricity difficult to study. The creation of the Leyden jar around 1745 was a major step toward controlling the mysterious energy. It was not discovered by one person but by three at almost the same moment: Ewald Jürgen Kleist (1700–48) in Germany and Pieter van Musschenbroek (1692–1761) and Andreas Cunaeus (1712–88) in Holland. While Kleist was probably the first to use a jar filled with water to try to collect an electrical charge, it was Musschenbroek who described the instrument. Since the work was conducted in Leyden, over time that was the name adopted by most people (although it is still sometimes called the von Kleistiche Flasche in Germany). A glass jar was wrapped in metal foil (this was thought to prevent the electricity leaking through the glass) and filled with water. A spike or metal rod pierced a stopper that sealed the jar. Electricity from a static generator was conducted to the interior through the rod and stored. When the rod touched a conductor, the electricity was discharged. (See figure 6.4.)
6.4莱顿瓶
6.4 LEYDEN JAR
富兰克林利用莱顿瓶以非常实用的方式探索了电的行为。他利用放电来模拟闪电,并设计了避雷针来保护建筑物。他制作了一个名为“雷电屋”的模型来展示避雷针的有效性。模型房屋内有一个密闭容器,里面装有少量易燃气体。当电流通过房屋顶部时,会产生火花,点燃气体,炸开容器盖和屋顶。将避雷针连接到房屋后,电荷会从模型中传导出去,房屋不会受到损坏。富兰克林后来被召到伦敦与国王乔治三世讨论避雷针的有效性。国王仍然坚信,如果避雷针顶部有一个圆形球体,其有效性会更高,而这种效率相当低的设计被英国人采用。
Franklin used the Leyden jar to explore the behavior of electricity in a very practical manner. He used the discharge to mimic lightning and designed the lightning rod to protect buildings. He made a model called the Thunder House to demonstrate the effectiveness of the lightning rod. Inside the model house was a small amount of flammable gas in a closed container. When electricity was applied to the top of the house, it produced a spark that ignited the gas and blew the lid off the container and the roof off the house. With the lightning rod attached to the house, the charge was conducted away from the model and the house was safe from damage. Franklin was later called to London to discuss the effectiveness of lightning rods with King George III. The king remained convinced that such rods were more effective with a round globe at the top, and this rather inefficient design was adopted by the British.
当时的理论将电描述为一种流体,它实际上是从静电机“流入”莱顿瓶的。这些瓶子也有助于澄清电路的概念,而另一个沙龙演示就是由此产生的。在装满莱顿瓶后,一群人手拉手围成一圈。一个人打破圆圈,用空着的手握住瓶子的底部,而另一边的人用空着的手触摸杆。如果电荷足够大时,圆圈内的每个人都感到一阵电击。由于莱顿瓶只能容纳固定量的电量(其容量;因此,基于这一概念的设备被称为电容器),这样的演示有助于将电学研究从定性研究转变为基于定量概念的研究,例如涂层表面面积、电荷量及其力之间的关系。
Theory of the period described electricity as a fluid, which in effect “flowed” into the Leyden jar from the electrostatic machine. The jars also helped to clarify the concept of an electric circuit, and it was from this that another salon demonstration arose. After filling a Leyden jar, a circle of people joined hands. One person broke the circle and with the free hand held the bottom of the jar, while the person on the other side of the break touched the rod with their free hand. If there was sufficient charge, everyone in the circle felt a shock. Because the Leyden jar could hold only a fixed amount of electricity (its capacity; hence, the name capacitors for devices based on the concept), such demonstrations helped to shift the study of electricity from a qualitative examination to one based on quantitative ideas, such as the relationship between the area of coated surface, the amount of charge, and its force.
电学实验的难度凸显了当时科学研究的核心问题之一。电现象在很大程度上只能定性地理解,而不能定量地理解。实验结果的精确度远远落后于物理学和数学所揭示的潜力。遥远行星的位置比海上船只的位置更能被准确确定。人们对量化的兴趣日益浓厚,源于 17 世纪对测量作为通向真知之路的忠诚,这导致了 18 世纪新仪器的发明,并为了顺应改革时代的潮流,引入了新的测量系统。
The difficulty of doing experiments on electricity highlights one of the central problems for scientific research in the period. Electric phenomena could largely be understood qualitatively but not quantitatively. The precision of experimental results lagged far behind the potential revealed by physics and mathematics. The location of distant planets could be more accurately determined than the place of a ship at sea. The increased interest in quantification, developed from the seventeenth-century allegiance to measurement as the path to true knowledge, led in the eighteenth century to the creation of new instruments and, in keeping with the age of reform, the introduction of a new system of measurement.
这些新仪器中最重要的是温度计。尽管曾有过多次测量温度的尝试,包括伽利略的工作,但直到 1714 年,加布里埃尔·华伦海特 (1686-1736) 使用酒精膨胀来测量温度,才发明了第一台足够精确的仪器用于科学研究。他还引入了使用汞作为膨胀液体,并于 1724 年在《皇家学会哲学学报》上发表了他的构造方法。他继续根据水的冰点制作了一个标度,将 0° 确定为盐水的冰点,32° 确定为淡水的冰点,212° 确定为沸点。
Chief among these new instruments was the thermometer. Although there had been a number of attempts to measure temperature, including work by Galileo, the first instrument accurate enough for scientific work was not created until 1714 when Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736) used the expansion of alcohol to measure temperature. He also introduced the use of mercury as the expanding liquid and published his method of construction in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1724. He went on to produce a scale based on the freezing points of water, establishing 0° as the freezing point of salt water, 32° as the freezing point of fresh water, and 212° as the boiling point.
在了解海洋对贸易和权力至关重要的时代,将零度设为盐水的冰点是有道理的。在华伦海特发明第一支水银温度计的同一年,英国议会通过经度委员会为任何发明海上经度测定系统的人提供 20,000 英镑(相当于今天的 500,000 美元)的奖励。这是一个长期存在的问题,困扰了数代航海家。巴黎天文台(成立于 1667 年)和格林威治皇家天文台(成立于 1675 年)都将改进航海作为其主要项目之一。经度可以通过陆地上的天体观测来计算,但不能在船上进行观测。多年来,人们提出了许多解决方案,但都以失败告终,因为要么无法在行驶的船上进行观测,例如观测木星的卫星,要么根本不相关,例如测量磁差。1714 年,航行危险持续存在,由于贸易和航运量的扩大,航行危险比以往任何时候都更加令人担忧。1707 年,海军上将克劳德斯利·肖维尔爵士在英格兰海岸附近的一次海难中失去了四艘船,与 800 至 2,000 名船员一起丧生,这清楚地表明了改善航行的必要性。虽然使用天体观测相对容易找到纬度,但找到经度需要一种准确的计时方法。至少从 1530 年开始,数学地理学家、杰拉杜斯·墨卡托的老师杰玛·弗里修斯 (1508-55) 就认识到了这一点,他认为,如果他有一个准确的时钟,他就可以确定经度。
Setting zero as the freezing point of salt water made sense in an era when understanding the sea was crucial to trade and power. In the same year that Fahrenheit created his first mercury thermometer, the English Parliament through the Board of Longitude offered a reward of £20,000 (equal to about $500,000 today) for anyone who created a system for determining longitude at sea. This was a long-standing problem that had plagued navigators for generations. Both the Paris Observatory (created in 1667) and the Royal Observatory at Greenwich (established in 1675) had the improvement of navigation as one of their main projects. Longitude could be calculated from celestial observations on land but not on shipboard. Over the years a number of solutions had been proposed, but all had failed as either impossible to carry out on a moving ship, such as the observation of the moons of Jupiter, or simply irrelevant, such as measuring magnetic variation. What prompted the 1714 prize was the ongoing danger of navigation, now more a concern than ever due to the expansion of trade and volume of shipping. The necessity of better navigation was made very clear when in 1707 Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell lost four ships and died along with between 800 and 2,000 men in a shipwreck off the coast of England. While finding latitude was relatively easy using celestial observations, what was needed to find longitude was an accurate method of timekeeping. This had been understood since at least 1530 when Gemma Frisius (1508–55), mathematical geographer and teacher of Gerardus Mercator, argued that he could determine longitude if he had an accurate clock.
问题就在这里。伽利略建议,利用天文事件(例如木星卫星的日食)可以测量出足够精确的时间来确定经度,但在海上的船上不可能进行这样的观测。即使在克里斯蒂安·惠更斯于 1656 年发明了一种足够精确的摆钟,可以准确计时,但这种仪器在行驶的船上却毫无用处。钟表匠约翰·哈里森(1693-1776)最终解决了这个问题,他在 1761 年两次前往牙买加的航行中测试了他的钟表。尽管哈里森的精密计时器取得了成功,但他只被董事会授予 5,000 英镑,直到 1773 年国王乔治三世为他求情,他才获得全部奖金。作为一名工匠,他不符合皇家学会培养的绅士自然哲学家形象。皇家学会的领导层原本预计他们的一位研究员将获得该奖项。
Therein lay the problem. Measurements of time accurate enough to determine longitude were possible using astronomical events such as the eclipses of the moons of Jupiter, as suggested by Galileo, but such observations were impossible on a ship at sea. Even after Christiaan Huygens developed a pendulum clock in 1656 that was accurate enough to keep good time, the instrument was useless on board moving ships. The problem was finally solved by the clockmaker John Harrison (1693–1776), who in 1761 had his timepiece tested on two voyages to Jamaica. Despite the success of Harrison’s chronometer, he was awarded only £5,000 by the Board and did not receive the whole prize until King George III interceded on his behalf in 1773. As a craftsman he did not fit the gentlemanly profile of natural philosophers developed by the Royal Society. The leadership of the Royal Society had expected one of their Fellows would win the prize.
对于争夺殖民地和运营全球贸易网络的欧洲国家来说,航海至关重要。这场争夺帝国的竞赛决定了一些研究项目的主题,例如经度和坏血病的治疗方法。与此同时,这些国家不断扩大的影响力使得许多实验和观察成为可能,而这些实验和观察在早期是可以概念化但无法进行的。皮埃尔·德·莫佩尔蒂 (1698-1759) 的拉普兰探险就是一个例子。莫佩尔蒂是法国科学院的成员,1736 年被选为探险队队长,测量子午线的精确长度。他是一位狂热的牛顿主义者,也是最早向法国科学家介绍牛顿引力理论的人之一。最终的报告《论地球的形状》(1736 年)证实了牛顿的理论预测,即地球不是球形的,而是两极扁平的。
Navigation was vital to European nations competing for colonial holdings and operating global trade networks. This race to empire dictated the subject of some research programs, like that for longitude and the cure for scurvy. At the same time, the expanding reach of these nations made possible a number of experiments and observations that could have been conceptualized but not undertaken in earlier times. Take, for instance, the expedition to Lapland of Pierre de Maupertuis (1698–1759). Maupertuis was a member of the Académie des Sciences and in 1736 was chosen to lead the expedition to measure the precise length of a meridian degree. He was a fervent Newtonian and had been one of the first to introduce Newton’s theory of gravity to French scientists. The resulting report, Sur la figure de la Terre (On the Shape of the Earth, 1736), confirmed Newton’s theoretical prediction that the Earth was not spherical but flattened at the poles.
莫佩尔蒂是越来越多将工作转向数学物理的大陆思想家之一。他们在数学和实验主义学科之间架起了桥梁,经常在数学上和实践上都遵循牛顿在《牛顿光学》“疑问”部分所建议的研究方向。这个群体中包括约瑟夫·拉格朗日(1736-1813 年)、皮埃尔-西蒙·拉普拉斯(1749-1827 年)、奥古斯丁·让·菲涅尔(1788-1827 年)和莱昂哈德·欧拉(1707-83 年),欧拉是有史以来最多产的数学家之一,他发表了 1,000 多篇文章和书籍,内容涵盖从数论到数学制图学的各个领域。尽管这些人的兴趣和研究领域多种多样,从微积分最深奥的方面到化学,但他们工作的共同点是他们努力将周围的一切事物用数学术语表达出来。菲涅尔提出了光的波动理论,挑战了牛顿的粒子理论,但他也发明了菲涅尔透镜,这种透镜由一系列同心环组成。这种透镜用于灯塔(后来用于剧院照明),因为它比传统的金属反射镜能更集中光线,但比普通透镜紧凑得多。
Maupertuis was one of a growing group of continental thinkers who turned their work to mathematical physics. They bridged the disciplines of mathematics and experimentalism, often following the direction set by Newton both mathematically and in practical terms by the research suggested in the “Queries” section of Newton’s Opticks. Among this group were Joseph Lagrange (1736–1813), Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827), Augustin Jean Fresnel (1788–1827), and Leonhard Euler (1707–83), one of the most prolific mathematicians of all time, who published over 1,000 articles and books on everything from number theory to mathematical cartography. Although the interests and studies of these men were diverse, ranging from the most esoteric aspects of the calculus to chemistry, what ties their work together was their effort to put into mathematical terms everything that was around them. Fresnel worked out a wave theory of light, challenging the corpuscular theory of the Newtonians, but he also developed the Fresnel lens, which was built in a series of concentric rings. This was used in lighthouses (and later in theater lighting) because it allowed a much greater concentration of light than traditional metal reflectors had permitted, but was considerably more compact than a regular lens.
拉格朗日 17 岁时开始从事严肃的数学工作,当时他正在研究光学。他将自己的研究结果证明寄给了欧拉,欧拉鼓励他继续从事这项工作。拉格朗日确实继续了下去,并基本上创立了天体物理学领域。虽然牛顿力学已经建立了一个框架,但太阳系为什么会这样运动,以及地球和月球引力关系的性质等复杂问题的具体细节仍需要解决。拉格朗日在他的著作《分析力学》(1788 年)中解决了这些问题,该书以严格的数学术语介绍了力学。序言中写道:
Lagrange began his serious mathematical work at the age of 17 by looking at optics. He sent a proof of his results to Euler, who encouraged him to continue in this endeavor. Lagrange did continue and essentially founded the field of astrophysics. While Newton’s mechanics had set a framework, the precise details about why the solar system moved as it did or the nature of the gravitational relations of the Earth and its Moon were complex problems that needed to be worked out. Lagrange did so in his book Mécanique analytique (1788), which presented mechanics in strict mathematical terms. The Preface stated:
本书中没有图形。我阐述的方法既不需要构造,也不需要几何或机械论证,而只需要遵循规则和统一过程的代数运算。1
One will not find figures in this work. The methods that I expound require neither constructions, nor geometrical or mechanical arguments, but only algebraic operations, subject to a regular and uniform course.1
拉格朗日对引力的研究使他预测太空中会有五个点,即拉格朗日点,两个物体(如地球和月球)的引力在这些点上相互平衡。在这五个点中,有两个点(L4和L5 )比其他点更稳定,引力以这样的方式发挥作用放置在那里的第三个天体可以无限期地保持在稳定的轨道上。地球-太阳系统中的L 1点目前被太阳和日光层观测卫星占据,顾名思义,它正在观测太阳。(见图6.5。)
Lagrange’s work on gravity led him to predict that there would be five points in space – the Lagrange points – where the gravitational forces of two bodies (such as the Earth and the Moon) balanced each other. Of the five points, two (L4 and L5) were more stable than the others, and the forces of attraction worked in such a way that a third body placed there could remain in stable orbit indefinitely. The L1 spot in the Earth-Sun system is currently occupied by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Satellite, which is, as the name implies, observing the Sun. (See figure 6.5.)
6.5拉格朗日点
6.5 LAGRANGE POINTS
拉格朗日点(L 1、L 2等)是太空中卫星拥有最稳定轨道的点,因为质量 1 和质量 2 之间的引力达到平衡。
The Lagrange points (L1, L2 etc.) are points in space where satellites would have the most stable orbits because the gravitational forces are balanced between Mass 1 and Mass 2.
和拉格朗日一样,拉普拉斯也致力于天体力学的研究。他撰写了许多技术论文,以及《世界系统论》(1796 年),这是一本关于宇宙如何运作的通俗著作。在实际问题上,他是伟大的化学家安托万·拉瓦锡的助手,协助他进行热能研究。这些科学家为物理学注入了新的活力,将注意力转向越来越广泛的自然现象。罗杰·约瑟夫·博斯科维奇 (1711-87) 提出了最宏伟的方案之一,他声称宇宙中的所有物质都可以装进一个坚果壳里,并试图用一个物理数学思想来概括宇宙的结构。他的《自然哲学理论》(1758 年)完全排除了物质,只处理力点,提出了首次尝试建立完全基于物理原理的统一理论(这种理论有时称为 GUT)。
Like Lagrange, Laplace also worked on celestial mechanics. He wrote many technical papers, as well as Exposition du Système du Monde (1796), a popular account of how the universe functioned. In practical matters, he was an assistant to the great chemist Antoine Lavoisier, aiding him in his work on heat and energy. These scientists added new vigor to physics, turning their attention to a wider and wider range of natural phenomena. One of the grandest schemes was offered by Roger Joseph Boscovich (1711–87), who claimed that all matter in the universe could fit inside a nutshell and who tried to encapsulate the structure of the universe in a single physico-mathematic idea. His Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis (1758) eliminated matter altogether and dealt only with points of force, presenting one of the first attempts at a grand unified theory (such theories are sometimes called GUTs) based solely on physical principles.
宏大的数学思想激发了许多科学家的心灵,但引起公众关注的往往是科学探索的冒险。当时最著名的科学探险之一是对金星凌日的调查。开普勒早先认识到水星和金星都必须经过太阳前方,并计算出这些事件发生的时间。他确定金星凌日每 105.5 年发生两次(第二次发生在八年后),随后间隔 121.5 年(再间隔八年)。开普勒去世仅一年后,皮埃尔·伽桑狄于 1631 年观测到了水星凌日。现在是时候观测下一次金星凌日了,预计在 1761 年和 1769 年发生。杰里迈亚·霍罗克斯 (1619–41) 认识到了这次天文事件的重要性,他意识到如果在地球上的不同点同时进行观测,所获得的信息可用于计算到金星的距离以及从地球到太阳的距离。
Grand mathematics stirred the hearts and minds of a number of scientists, but it was often the adventures of investigation that attracted public notice. Among the most famous scientific expeditions of the period were the investigations of the transit of Venus. Kepler had earlier recognized that both Mercury and Venus must pass in front of the Sun and had calculated when these events would occur. He determined that the transit of Venus happened in pairs every 105.5 years (with the second eight years later), followed by an interval of 121.5 years (and another eight years). Just a year after Kepler’s death, Pierre Gassendi had observed the transit of Mercury in 1631. It was now time to observe the next transit of Venus, due in 1761 and 1769. The importance of this astronomical event was recognized by Jeremiah Horrocks (1619–41), who realized that if observations were made simultaneously at different points on the Earth, the information gained could be used to calculate the distance to Venus and the distance from the Earth to the Sun.
1761 年,约瑟夫-尼古拉斯·德利斯勒 (Joseph-Nicolas Delisle,1688-1768) 组织了一次大规模的金星凌日观测活动,派遣观测者前往印度的本地治里、圣赫勒拿岛、印度洋的罗德里格斯岛和西伯利亚的托博尔斯克。许多其他观测者也进行了观测,但不幸的是,恶劣的天气和七年战争 (1756-63) 阻止了一些观测者记录这一事件,结果并不像天文学家所希望的那样好。
In 1761 Joseph-Nicolas Delisle (1688–1768) organized a major effort to measure the transit of Venus by sending observers to Pondicherry in India, St. Helena, Isle de Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean, and Tobolsk, Siberia. Observations were undertaken by many other observers as well, but unfortunately poor weather and the Seven Years’ War (1756–63) prevented some of the observers from recording the event, and the results were not as good as astronomers had hoped.
1769 年的探险更为成功。库克船长前往塔希提岛的航行和纪尧姆·勒让蒂尔 (Guillaume Le Gentil,1725-92 年) 的冒险激发了公众的浪漫想象。塔希提岛刚刚被英国探险家发现,并被描绘成人间天堂。由于塔希提岛拥有极佳的热带气候,岛民也非常友好,欧洲媒体广泛传播了有关塔希提岛的报道。库克的使命在很大程度上是科学性的 — — 绘制地图、观察凌日、测试经度计时器并寻找治疗坏血病的方法 — — 但他也奉命为英国人宣称任何以前未被发现的土地。
The expeditions of 1769 were more successful. Captain Cook’s voyage to Tahiti and the adventures of Guillaume Le Gentil (1725–92) captured the public’s romantic imagination. Tahiti had only recently been discovered by British explorers and was portrayed as an earthly paradise. Because it had a superb tropical climate and the islanders were extremely friendly, reports about Tahiti were widely spread by the European press. Cook’s mission was in large part scientific – mapping, observing the transit, testing the chronometer for longitude, and looking for a way to deal with scurvy – but he was also under orders to claim any previously undiscovered land for the British.
勒让蒂尔前往本地治里,进行了一次艰难的陆路旅行,然后横跨印度洋,但错过了第一次金星凌日。他一直待在该地区直到第二次金星凌日,但由于恶劣天气再次受阻。他在《印度洋之旅》(第一卷出版于 1779 年,第二卷出版于 1781 年)中写下了他的冒险经历。从此开启了英雄科学时代,以扩展知识的名义面对极端危险,其意义几乎与很久以前的宗教十字军东征相当。被派往加利福尼亚州巴哈州圣何塞德尔卡波传教所的科学院小组,除了一人幸存外,其余所有人都死于流行病。这名男子在艰苦的条件下徒步穿越了后来成为德克萨斯州的领土,历经千辛万苦才返回法国领土和家乡。这些数据花了数年时间才收集到(例如,库克直到 1771 年才回到英国,因为他正在寻找大南部大陆),但巴黎天文台台长、天文学家杰罗姆·德·拉朗德(1732-1807)利用所有这些团队的综合凌日数据,计算出地球到太阳的距离为 1.53 亿至 1.54 亿公里。虽然这个数字没有天文学家所希望的那么准确,但这是一项重大成就。它还表明,科学知识以及火炮和殖民地如何证实了法国和英国等欧洲国家的帝国权力。
Le Gentil went to Pondicherry, undertaking a difficult trip overland and then across the Indian Ocean, but missed the first transit of Venus. He stayed in the region until the second transit, only to be thwarted again because of bad weather. He wrote of his adventures in A Voyage in the Indian Ocean (Volume I published in 1779, Volume II in 1781). So began the age of heroic science, when facing extreme danger in the name of the expansion of knowledge gained a significance almost equal to the religious crusades of long ago. The Académie des Sciences team, sent to Mission San Jose del Cabo in Baja, California, all died from an epidemic except for a single survivor. This man crossed the territory that would become Texas on foot in grueling conditions and returned to French territory and home only after great travail. It took several years to compile the data (Cook, for example, did not get back to Britain until 1771, since he was searching for the Great Southern continent), but the astronomer Jerome de Lalande (1732–1807), the director of the Paris Observatory, used the combined transit data from all these teams to calculate a distance of 153 to 154 million kilometers from the Earth to the Sun. While this was not as accurate as astronomers had hoped, it was a major accomplishment. It also demonstrated how scientific knowledge, as well as guns and colonies, confirmed the imperial power of European nations such as France and Britain.
出于商业、政治和科学原因,欧洲人对探索世界其他地区的丰富资源很感兴趣。这是第一次出现了对欧洲人所知甚少的国家和地区进行地图绘制的协同努力。例如,第一张英国印度次大陆地图是在十八世纪绘制的。詹姆斯·伦内尔 (James Rennell,1742-1830) 绘制了莫卧儿帝国的地图,依靠伦敦收集的东印度公司成员的各种实地报道。欧洲人也对其他地区动植物的用途感兴趣,并依赖当地知识来获得这些信息。玛丽亚·梅里安 (Maria Merian) 对苏里南昆虫特性的研究之所以能够实现,是因为苏里南人与梅里安分享了他们的知识。在自然界的知识方面,欧洲人和非欧洲人往往处于平等地位,尽管欧洲人认为没用的信息往往不会传回国内。例如,南美洲孔雀花的堕胎特性的知识并没有传到欧洲,尽管这种花本身因其美丽而广为人知和珍视。
Europeans were interested in discovering more about the vast resources of other parts of the world, for commercial, political, and scientific reasons. This was the period that saw the first concerted efforts to map countries and regions largely unknown to Europeans. For example, the first British maps of the subcontinent of India were made in the eighteenth century. James Rennell (1742–1830) produced maps of the Mughal Empire, relying on assembling in London the diverse field reporting of members of the East India Company. Europeans were also interested in the uses of plants and animals in other regions and were reliant on native knowledge to give them this information. Maria Merian’s investigation of the properties of insects in Suriname was only possible because the Surinamese shared their knowledge with Merian. Europeans and non-Europeans were often on an equal footing when it came to knowledge of the natural world, although information not seen as useful to Europeans was frequently not transmitted home. For example, knowledge of the abortificant (abortion-causing) properties of the peacock flower of South America were not communicated to Europe, although the flower itself became known and prized for its beauty.
或许,最能体现科学世界观之间这种协商的事件是 1793 年乔治·麦卡特尼 (1735-1806) 出使中国。麦卡特尼受英国派遣,与清朝建立更好的贸易关系。他带来了外交官和士兵,但也带来了科学家和学者,以及他认为会让中国人惊讶的科学设备(例如,世界地图和华丽的时钟)。约瑟夫·班克斯建议他尽可能多地寻找茶树,以期使班克斯 1778 年在印度建立的新茶园多样化。这次任务彻底失败了。麦卡特尼陷入了困境,因为他拒绝向乾隆皇帝叩头,而中国人对这些欧洲科学知识的标志并不感兴趣。他们有自己的世界地图和自己的计时设备。英国人原本以为会遇到一个渴望接受指导的落后民族。相反,他们遇到了一个成熟、受过良好教育的文化,拥有自己的科学理解。
Perhaps the event that best demonstrates this negotiation between scientific worldviews was the diplomatic mission of George McCartney (1735–1806) to China in 1793. McCartney was sent by the British to establish better trading relations with the Qing dynasty. He brought diplomats and soldiers, but he also brought scientists and scholars, along with scientific devices he felt would astonish the Chinese (for example, a world map and an ornate clock). Joseph Banks advised him to find as many tea plants as possible, with an eye to diversifying the new tea plantations Banks had already founded in India in 1778. The mission was a complete failure. McCartney got into a difficult situation because he refused to kowtow to the Qianlong emperor, and the Chinese were not impressed by these marks of European scientific knowhow. They had their own maps of the world and their own time-keeping devices. The British had expected to encounter a backward people, eager for instruction. Instead, they met a sophisticated and educated culture, with its own scientific understanding.
地理学家、数学家、制图师、天文学家和钟表匠都致力于解决复杂的航海和天文学问题,从而为新兴帝国的强大做出了贡献。同样重要的是,他们的成功有助于开发殖民地的自然资源和垄断市场。由此产生的财富反过来又为工业革命提供了资金,尤其是在英国,那里出现了大量创造性的工业活动大约从 1750 年开始。到 1780 年,工厂生产系统和詹姆斯·瓦特 (1736-1819) 冷凝蒸汽机的引入开始改变许多人的生活,因为他们从农场转移到工厂,一方面造成了早期工业格拉斯哥、伯明翰、曼彻斯特和伦敦的可怕贫民窟,另一方面也带来了工业大亨的惊人财富。科学史学家长期以来一直在争论科学发展与这一时期的技术和经济变化之间的关系。然而,科学突破并没有直接促进新技术的发展,而是在创造一种进步文化和科学事业效用的话语主张方面发挥了重要作用。
Geographers, mathematicians, cartographers, astronomers, and clockmakers all worked to solve the complex problems of navigation and astronomy, thereby contributing to the power of their nascent empires. Just as importantly, their success aided the exploitation of the natural resources and captive markets of the colonies. The wealth so generated in turn helped finance the Industrial Revolution, particularly in Britain, where there was a burst of creative industrial activity starting around 1750. By 1780 the introduction of the factory system of production and James Watt’s (1736–1819) condensing steam engine had begun to transform the lives of many people as they moved from the farms to the factories, creating on one hand the terrible slums of early industrial Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, and London, and on the other the incredible wealth of the industrial barons. Historians of science have long debated the relationship between the growth of science and the technological and economic changes in this period. Rather than scientific breakthroughs contributing directly to new technologies, however, science was instrumental in creating a culture of progress and a discursive claim for the utility of the scientific enterprise.
随着商人们航行到地球的新地方并与之进行贸易,自然哲学家们开始将地球本身视为科学研究的合法主题。地球研究——科学革命时期的宇宙学和地理学,以及启蒙时代的地质学——的动机是与采矿和土地形成有关的经济考虑、与新发现的民族和地球的适航性有关的政治问题,以及关于上帝手迹证据的宗教问题。所有这些都促成了十八世纪的地质学和地球研究,这些研究集中于几个问题:地球的形成过程和随后的历史、地球的年龄、地层结构和化石的位置。
As merchants were sailing to and trading with new parts of the globe, natural philosophers came to view the Earth itself as a legitimate topic of scientific investigation. Studies of the Earth – cosmography and geography in the scientific revolution, adding geology in this Enlightenment era – were motivated by economic considerations to do with mining and land formations, political issues dealing with newly discovered peoples and the navigability of the globe, and religious questions of the evidence for God’s handiwork. All contributed to geology and Earth studies in the eighteenth century, which were focused on several questions: the process of creation and subsequent history of the Earth, the age of the Earth, the configuration of strata, and the place of fossils.
自然哲学家最初关注的是上帝创造的物质现实。例如,英国人托马斯·伯内特(约 1635-1715 年)在《地球神圣理论》(1691 年)中,他想用机械(笛卡尔)而不是神奇的术语来解释创造,遵循机械哲学的趋势,避免使用超自然的解释。他从《创世纪》的故事开始,但使用自然的机械解释来解释圣经中的创造事件。他声称地球在开始时非常热;随着冷却,水面上方形成了一层薄薄的光滑陆地壳。然而,伯内特并没有回避所有的圣经解释,因为他认为罪恶进入世界导致壳破裂,洪水淹没了陆地,创造了一个不完美的球形世界,有山脉和海洋。
Natural philosophers were first concerned with the material reality of God’s creation. The Englishman Thomas Burnet (c. 1635–1715), for example, in Sacred Theory of the Earth (1691), wanted to explain creation in mechanical (Cartesian) rather than miraculous terms, following the trend of mechanical philosophy to avoid supernatural explanations. He started with the Genesis story but used natural, mechanical explanations to account for the events of biblical creation. He claimed that the Earth in the beginning was very hot; as it cooled, a thin shell of smooth land formed above the waters. Burnet did not eschew all biblical explanations, however, since he argued that the coming of sin into the world caused the shell to break, sending floods over the land to create the imperfectly spherical world, with mountains and oceans.
尽管伯内特使用了圣经推理,但他的反宗教立场仍受到批评。但这并没有阻止另一位英国自然哲学家威廉·惠斯顿(William Whiston,1667-1752 年)在《地球新理论》(1696 年)中提出类似的观点。惠斯顿是牛顿主义者——他曾与牛顿一起在剑桥大学学习——并试图将地球的历史置于牛顿思想的背景下。他认为地球是由一颗彗星形成的,彗星由于引力,洪水是由另一颗彗星经过附近,将水洒落,使地球脱离圆形轨道而引起的。因此,亚当和夏娃堕落后,人类就变得不完美了。
Burnet was criticized for his irreligious stance, despite his use of biblical reasoning. This did not prevent another English natural philosopher, William Whiston (1667–1752), from making a similar point in New Theory of the Earth (1696). Whiston was a Newtonian – he had been at Cambridge with Newton – and sought to place Earth’s history in the context of Newtonian thought. He argued that the Earth was formed by a comet that condensed into a solid body because of gravity and that the deluge was caused by another comet passing close by, depositing water, and knocking the Earth out of circular orbit. Hence, the imperfection after the Fall of Adam and Eve.
这些 17 世纪晚期的创世故事与当时激烈的宗教冲突息息相关。在 18 世纪,人们更有可能摆脱圣经故事,转而寻找理性的解释。但这并不是说 18 世纪的地质学家是无神论者。相反,他们认为上帝的工作本质上是理性的,因此是可以解释的。此外,业余绅士哲学家的崛起为地质研究带来了新的目的——为了地位和政治权力,而不是出于意识形态或宗教原因。例如,地质学专注于观察实际现象,包括化石,而不是像伯内特和惠斯顿那样专注于大型推测系统。在 17 世纪早期,化石被认为是有图案的石头,而不是生物起源,但现在尼古拉斯·斯坦诺 (1638-86) 和约翰·伍德沃德 (1665-1728) 等科学家将它们解释为岩石中石化的生物遗骸。
These late seventeenth-century creation stories were coupled to the heated religious conflicts of the age. In the eighteenth century it was more possible to move away from biblical stories and look instead for rational explanations. This is not to say that eighteenth-century geologists were atheists, however. Rather, they saw God’s work as essentially rational and therefore explicable. As well, the rise of the amateur gentlemanly philosopher brought a new purpose to geological investigation – for status and political power rather than for ideological or religious reasons. Geology, for instance, concentrated on the observation of actual phenomena, including fossils, rather than on large speculative systems, such as those of Burnet and Whiston. In the early seventeenth century, fossils were considered to be figured stones rather than biological in origin, but now scientists such as Nicolaus Steno (1638–86) and John Woodward (1665–1728) interpreted them as the remains of living creatures that had been petrified in rocks.
然而,将化石视为生物遗骸所造成的问题比它解决的问题还多。在欧洲发现的大多数化石似乎都是海洋生物,与当代生物形态并不相似。此外,许多最好的化石沉积物都位于高山上,人们无法相信以前曾有海洋或湖泊。虽然圣经中的洪水可能提供了一些解释,但灭绝和被淹没的山脉需要科学信仰的重大飞跃。这种解释危机导致在十八世纪末出现了两种相互竞争的地质理论:海王星说和火山说,以罗马的海洋和火神命名。
Recognizing fossils as biological remains, however, caused more problems than it solved. Most of the fossils found in Europe seemed to be of sea creatures and did not resemble contemporary living forms. Moreover, many of the best fossil deposits were high up on mountains, where people could not believe there had been an ocean or lake at an earlier time. While the biblical flood might provide some explanatory options, extinction and submerged mountains required a major leap of scientific faith. This crisis of explanation led to the development of two competing geological theories by the end of the eighteenth century: Neptunism and Vulcanism, named after the Roman gods of the seas and fire.
海王星学说之所以得名,是因为其支持者认为水是地球形成的基本因素。乔治·路易·勒克莱尔·布丰伯爵(1707-88 年)在其《自然史》(1749 年)中指出,冷却中的地球经历了六个地球形成时期,大致对应于创世的六天。在这六个时期中,地球冷却,水凝结,海洋消退;地球朝着当今的方向发展。然而,海王星学说的主要代表是亚伯拉罕·戈特洛布·沃纳(1749-1817 年),这就是为什么该理论有时被称为沃纳理论。沃纳是一位矿物学家,在弗莱贝格矿业学院任教,这是启蒙运动的新教育创新之一。他认为地层一定表明了岩石形成的顺序,并且这些层是从原始海洋中沉淀出来的。他的解释主要基于他对沉积岩形成的发现;他认为火山活动是局部的,相对不重要。他工作的弗赖贝格周围缺乏这样的火山活动,这可能影响了他的这一表述。沃纳还坚持认为,现在起作用的力量太弱,无法创造现在的世界,因此过去的力量一定强大得多。换句话说,他认为地质形成只朝一个方向发展,即朝现在。沃纳极具影响力,因为他培养了许多矿物学家、矿工和地质学家,也因为他的方案符合矿物分类方案。它也吸引了越来越多对化学感兴趣的研究人员,因为它为不同类型的岩石和矿物提供了化学基础。
Neptunism was so named because its proponents believed that water was the fundamental agent for the formation of the Earth. George Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707–88), argued in his Histoire Naturelle (1749) that a cooling Earth had gone through six epochs of earth formation, corresponding roughly to the six days of creation. In these six epochs, the Earth cooled, water condensed, and oceans retreated; the Earth evolved in a clear direction toward the present day. The leading voice of Neptunism, however, was Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817), which is why this theory is sometimes called the Wernerian theory. Werner was a mineral-ogist teaching at the Freiberg Mining Academy, one of the new educational innovations of the Enlightenment. He decided that strata must indicate the order of rock formation and that the layers had been precipitated out of primordial oceans. His explanation was based largely on his findings of sedimentary rock formations; he assumed that volcanic activity was local and relatively unimportant. He was probably influenced in his formulation by the lack of such volcanic activity around Freiberg, where he worked. Werner also insisted that forces now in action were too feeble to have made the world as it now is, and so forces in the past must have been far stronger and more powerful. In other words, he believed that geological formation operated in only one direction, toward the present. Werner was extremely influential, because he taught many mineralogists, miners, and geologists, and because his scheme fit with a classification scheme for minerals. It also appealed to the growing number of researchers with interests in chemistry, since it suggested a chemical foundation for the different types of rocks and minerals.
海王星说一直流行到十八世纪末,但它无法解释许多地质观测结果,例如大洪水都去了哪里?火成岩是如何形成的?以及最令人烦恼的问题是,为什么在山顶上会发现海洋生物的化石?渐渐地,一些矿物学家开始争论地球内部热量的贡献,有时被称为深成作用或火山作用。早在 1740 年,安东·拉扎罗·莫罗 (Anton Lazzaro Moro,1687-1764) 就从他对火山岛的研究中提出了热量(特别是火山活动形式)可以解释地质结构的观点。他还认为,在山上发现的水生化石意味着这里的岩石曾经位于海底。最专注的火山学家是让·埃蒂安·盖塔尔 (Jean Étienne Guettard,1715-86)。盖塔尔住在法国奥弗涅附近,那里有许多锥形的山脉,表明它们曾经是火山。他认为过去的火山力量比现在强大得多,而且分布广泛,足以解释岩石的形成、化石的位置和火成岩。他是第一个绘制法国地质图的人,他的《法国矿物学图集和描述》 ( Atlas et description minéralogiques de la France)于 1780 年问世。他与年轻的拉瓦锡一起参与了一项对法国进行全面地质调查的项目,但只完成了一小部分。盖塔尔和沃纳都是重要的科学思想家,他们被选为瑞典皇家科学院的外籍院士;盖塔尔于 1759 年当选,沃纳于 1810 年当选。
Neptunism was widely popular until the end of the eighteenth century, but it could not explain a number of geological observations such as where had all the Flood water gone? How were igneous rocks formed? And, the most vexing question, why were fossils of sea creatures found on the top of mountains? Gradually, a number of mineralogists began to argue for some contribution of the inner heat of the Earth, sometimes called Plutonism or Vulcanism. The idea that heat, specifically in the form of volcanic activity, accounted for geological structures had been suggested as early as 1740 by Anton Lazzaro Moro (1687–1764) from his study of volcanic islands. He also argued that aquatic fossils found on mountains meant that the rocks here were once at the bottom of an ocean. The most dedicated vulcanist was Jean Étienne Guettard (1715–86). Guettard lived in France near Auvergne where there were a number of mountains with cone shapes, indicating they had once been volcanoes. He argued that volcanic forces in the past had been much stronger than now and widespread enough to account for rock formation, fossil placement, and igneous rocks. He was the first person to create geological maps of France, his Atlas et description minéralogiques de la France (Mineralogical Atlas and Description of France) appearing in 1780. Along with a young Lavoisier, he contributed to a project to do a complete geological survey of France, of which only a tiny portion was completed. Both Guettard and Werner were important enough as scientific thinkers to have been elected as foreign members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; Guettard being elected in 1759 and Werner in 1810.
尽管盖塔德和沃纳代表了海王星说和深成岩说最独特的版本,但随着人们开始研究岩石及其层位,这两种说法似乎都不太令人满意。苏格兰地质学家詹姆斯·赫顿(1726-97)提出了一种新理论,将地球内部的热量与水的作用结合起来。在《地球理论》(1795 年)中,他认为沉积岩是由早期的火成岩形成的,地球处于不断从一种形式转变为另一种形式,然后再变回原形。火山活动迫使火成岩上升到地表,水侵蚀并形成沉积岩,其中一些沉积岩在高温下融合形成火成岩。循环就这样继续下去。正如赫顿所说,“我们找不到开始的痕迹,也找不到结束的希望。” 2
Although Guettard and Werner represented the most distinct versions of Neptunism and Plutonism, the more people began to investigate rocks and their layers, the less satisfying both these accounts seemed to be. James Hutton (1726–97), a Scottish geologist, developed a new theory that combined the inner heat of the Earth with the actions of water. In The Theory of the Earth (1795), he suggested that sedimentary rock had been formed from earlier igneous rock and that the Earth was in a constant state of change from one form into the other and back again. Volcanic activity forced igneous rocks up to the surface, where water caused erosion and the formation of sedimentary rocks, some of which were fused by heat to form igneous. And so the cycle went. As Hutton said, “We find no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end.”2
赫顿用这句话攻击了之前所有的矿物学家和地质学家,因为他认为现在起作用的力量确实有足够的力量导致岩石分层的演变性质,并且地球内部的热量现在和以前一样。换句话说,这是一个没有方向的模型,无论是圣经的还是物质的。这被称为“均变论”。赫顿的理论非常激进,虽然他的早期论文在 1785 年首次发表时获得了好评,但是随着 1795 年他的书的出版,他受到了广泛的谴责。这主要是因为法国大革命激起了保守派的担忧,而赫顿的“无神论”和“雅各宾派”理论在一个处于战争中的爱国国家没有立足之地。启蒙运动的自由主义遗产至少在一段时间内结束了。
With this statement, Hutton attacked all the mineralogists and geologists before him, since he argued that forces now in action did have sufficient strength to cause the evolving nature of rock stratification and that the inner heat of the Earth was the same now as before. In other words, this was a model without direction, either biblical or material. This is called “uniformitarianism.” Hutton’s was a wildly radical theory, and although his earlier papers were favorably reviewed when they first appeared in 1785, with the publication of his book in 1795 he was widely condemned. This was largely because the French Revolution in France had whipped up conservative concerns, and Hutton’s “atheist” and “Jacobin” theories had no place in a patriotic country at war. The liberal legacy of the Enlightenment was over, at least for a time.
十八世纪地质学的重要性体现在人们对收藏和分类的热情上。十六和十七世纪的收藏家们将他们的藏品收集到博物馆中,最初是作为私人学习或沉思的地方(工作室)。自然哲学家如康拉德·格斯纳(1516-65 年)和乌利塞·阿尔德罗万迪(1522-1605 年)的早期收藏包括书籍、版画和文物。这些博物馆的选择和组织原则通常基于自然的奇异性、异常性和不连续性,而不是某种潜在的秩序或连续性。藏品可能包括形状奇异的石头或双头小牛,而不是一个地区的完整植物群。在十七世纪末和十八世纪初,王子们将收藏发展为宫廷科学奇观和奇迹的一部分。这些工作室或珍奇柜(到十九世纪已成为绅士的必备物品)并非像格斯纳 (Gesner) 和阿尔德罗万迪 (Aldrovandi) 的收藏品那样用于工作收藏,而是用于公开展示和炫耀。
The importance of geology in the eighteenth century was mirrored by the passion for collection and classification. Collectors in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had assembled their collections in museums, first as private places of study or contemplation (a studio). These early collections by natural philosophers such as Konrad Gesner (1516–65) and Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522–1605) included books, engravings, and artifacts. The selecting and organizing principles in these museums were usually based on the singularities, freaks, and discontinuities of nature rather than some underlying order or continuity. Collections might include stones in bizarre shapes or two-headed calves, rather than a complete set of the flora of a region. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries princes developed collections as part of the spectacle and wonder of courtly science. These studiolo or cabinets of curiosities (which were de rigueur for gentlemen by the nineteenth century) were not working collections, as Gesner’s and Aldrovandi’s had been, but rather were meant for public display and ostentation.
第一家真正意义上的公共博物馆,即公众可以付费参观藏品的博物馆,是 1683 年在牛津建立的阿什莫林博物馆。其就公众开放而言,最好的典范可能是同样位于牛津的博德利图书馆,它是欧洲第一家公共图书馆,如果有理由,人们可以付费进入。并非所有游客都对开放政策感到满意,因为它侵犯了绅士证人的特权。例如,德国的乌芬巴赫伯爵于 1710 年参观了阿什莫林博物馆,但他一点也不满意,因为他被迫与平民百姓擦肩而过!然而,公共博物馆,或者至少是受过教育的公众可以进入的博物馆,很快就成为了开明欧洲的标志。俄罗斯、意大利、西班牙和法国的博物馆都在 18 世纪向公众开放(尽管在法国开放国王花园需要攻占巴士底狱)。大英博物馆于 1753 年开放,由已故皇家学会会长汉斯·斯隆 (Hans Sloane,1660-1753) 捐赠自己的藏品。
The first truly public museum, meaning that the public could pay a fee and tour the collection, was the Ashmolean Museum, established in Oxford in 1683. Its model in terms of public access was probably the Bodleian Library, also in Oxford, the first European public library, which people could enter for a fee if they had a reason to use it. Not all visitors were pleased with the open-door policy, since it violated the privileged status of the gentlemanly witness. Count von Uffenbach of Germany, for example, visited the Ashmolean in 1710 and was not at all impressed, since he was forced to rub shoulders with the hoi polloi! However, public museums, or at least museums that could be accessed by an educated public, soon became a mark of enlightened Europe. Museums in Russia, Italy, Spain, and France all opened their doors to the public in the eighteenth century (although opening the Jardin du Roi in France required the storming of the Bastille). The British Museum opened in 1753, following a bequest by the late president of the Royal Society, Hans Sloane (1660–1753), from his own collection.
斯隆是伦敦的一名富人医生,他收集了大量藏品。起初,他收集旧大陆和新大陆的植物,后来扩展到收集大量其他文物,包括贝壳、昆虫、化石、矿物、古物、硬币、书籍和手稿,这些文物大多是因其稀有性而收集,而不是为了建立一个连贯的分类系统。1687 年,在阿尔伯马尔公爵克里斯托弗·蒙克的赞助下,他前往牙买加旅行,开始了他的收藏,也开启了他致富和权力的道路。公爵在旅途中意外去世,斯隆有了一个有点怪异的机会来练习他的保存技术,他为阿尔伯马尔的尸体进行防腐处理,以便在回程途中保存它。回国后,斯隆利用他在南美洲发现的一种新物种向英国公众推销。他曾观察到南美洲土著人吃巧克力,但觉得巧克力太苦了,不适合自己的口味。然而,他发现将糖和牛奶混合,效果非常好,于是他通过进口和生产牛奶巧克力发家致富。
Sloane, a physician to the wealthy in London, amassed an enormous collection. At first he collected Old and New World plants, and then branched out to include a huge array of other artifacts, including shells, insects, fossils, minerals, antiquities, coins, books, and manuscripts, most collected for their rarity rather than to create a coherent classification system. He began his collection, as well as his path to riches and power, on a trip to Jamaica in 1687 under the patronage of Christopher Monck, Duke of Albemarle. When the duke unexpectedly died on the voyage, Sloane had a somewhat grotesque opportunity to practice his preservation technique, embalming Albemarle’s body to preserve it on the trip home. On his return Sloane made use of one of the new species he had identified in South America by marketing it to the English public. He had observed South American natives consuming chocolate but found it too bitter for his own taste. However, he discovered that mixed with sugar and milk, the result was very pleasant, and so he made his fortune importing and manufacturing milk chocolate.
斯隆的藏品曾受到当时大多数重要人物的参观,其中包括卡尔·林奈、本杰明·富兰克林和格奥尔格·亨德尔。斯隆本人是一个有点敏感和不善交际的人,他与十八世纪初英国几乎所有重要的科学家都发生过长时间的争吵。例如,他与地质学家伍德沃德发生了激烈的争吵,他指责伍德沃德在皇家学会会议上对他做鬼脸。1742 年,他退休到伦敦郊外的切尔西,并建立了自己的药用植物园。他去世后,他成立了一个信托基金,不久就成立了大英博物馆,该博物馆成为十八世纪最大的公共博物馆。
Sloane’s collection was visited by most of the important people of the day – Carolus Linnaeus, Benjamin Franklin, and Georg Handel, to name a few. Sloane himself was a somewhat touchy and antisocial man who got into prolonged fights with nearly every important scientist in early eighteenth-century Britain. For example, he had a huge row with the geologist Woodward, whom he accused of grimacing at him at a Royal Society meeting. In 1742 he retired to Chelsea, outside London, and set up his Physic Garden. At his death he established a trust that soon formed the British Museum, which became the largest public museum of the eighteenth century.
斯隆的继任者是约瑟夫·班克斯爵士(1743-1820),他本身也是一位杰出的收藏家。在他职业生涯的早期1768 年,詹姆斯·库克 (James Cook,1728-79 年) 首次远航太平洋时,班克斯签约担任船上植物学家。事实上,在第一次航行中,代表皇家学会参加此次航行的班克斯比库克更有名,库克当时只是一位名不见经传的海军军官。班克斯的随行人员威胁要淹没这艘船,事实上,他对空间和资源的要求非常高,以至于库克没有邀请他参加下一次航行。班克斯被他在这次旅程中观察到的丰富新动植物所震撼。他将他们在澳大利亚的第一个登陆点命名为植物湾,因为那里的植被非常茂盛和奇异。他回来后决心收集世界上所有的植物物种。
Sloane’s successor as president of the Royal Society, and an extraordinary collector in his own right, was Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820). Early in his career Banks signed on as ship’s botanist for James Cook’s (1728–79) first voyage to the Pacific in 1768. Indeed, on this first voyage, Banks, who represented the Royal Society on the trip, was more famous than Cook, who was a relatively unknown naval officer. Banks’s entourage threatened to overwhelm the ship, and, in fact, his demands for space and resources were so great that he was not asked to participate in Cook’s next voyage. Banks was overwhelmed by the wealth of new flora and fauna he observed on this journey. He named their first landfall in Australia Botany Bay, because the vegetation was so luxurious and exotic. He returned determined to collect all of the world’s botanical species.
6.6詹姆斯·库克船长的三次航行(1768-1779 年)
6.6 CAPTAIN JAMES COOK’S THREE VOYAGES (1768–1779)
库克的航行本身就体现了帝国建设、英雄科学和收藏精神的交汇。库克着手证明南方大陆(理论上应该与地球另一边的欧亚大陆保持平衡)的存在与否。他证明了南方大陆并不存在,同时发现了许多新大陆和岛屿(并宣称它们属于英国),测试精密计时器,并确定吃酸橙可以预防坏血病。这些航行是大英帝国的象征,收集并宣称拥有世界部分地区,并确立了英国科学技术的实力。虽然班克斯没有参加库克的接下来两次航行,因此没有目睹库克在夏威夷被谋杀,也没有前往温哥华岛,但他确实在海军部的批准下发布了收集动植物和观察自然现象的指示。
Cook’s voyages themselves demonstrated an intersection of empire-building, heroic science, and the collecting spirit. Cook set out to prove the existence or nonexistence of Terra Australis Incognita, the theoretical continent that should have balanced the Eurasian continent on the other side of the globe. He proved that it did not exist, while at the same time discovering a number of new lands and islands (and claiming them for Britain), testing the chronometer, and establishing that eating limes could prevent scurvy. These voyages were symbolic of the British Empire, collecting and laying claim to parts of the world and establishing the power of British science and technology. Although Banks did not go on Cook’s next two voyages and therefore did not witness Cook’s murder on Hawaii nor travel to Vancouver Island, he did issue instructions, with the approval of the Admiralty, for the collection of flora and fauna and the observation of natural phenomena.
班克斯成为欧洲最伟大的植物收藏家,也是英国最有影响力的自然哲学家,控制着任命和影响赞助。他建立了邱园,不仅收集标本,还种植它们并将它们分发给其他花园。如今已成为欧洲园艺不可或缺的一部分的大多数东方开花植物——例如杜鹃花——都来自班克斯的收藏。班克斯将邱园视为大英帝国的大型交易所;他利用它帮助将植物从帝国的一个地方运送到另一个地方——当然,样品留在了邱园。这就是博物馆收藏的新帝国主义风格。作为作为乔治三世的私人朋友,班克斯能够指导皇家海军的探险队收集和运输特定样本。他还雇佣了专业收藏家,如带回了猴谜树和巨型红杉的阿奇博尔德·孟席斯(1754-1842)和著名的非洲探险家蒙哥·帕克斯(1771-1806),后者最终在非洲试图发现尼日尔河的路线时去世。班克斯最著名的两项功绩是1788年将茶叶从中国移植到印度,以及1787年将面包果从塔希提岛移植到西印度群岛。后者雇用了邦蒂号,水手们对船员的恶劣条件不耐烦,而面包果却得到了良好的待遇,于是反抗布莱船长,重新定居在荒凉的皮特凯恩岛。邦蒂号兵变最令人惊奇的部分或许是布莱和他的支持者成功地驾驶一艘敞篷船从太平洋返回英国,并很快又驾驶一艘新船出发移植面包果,这一次他们成功了。
Banks became the greatest botanical collector in Europe, as well as the most powerful natural philosopher in Britain, controlling appointments and influencing patronage. He established Kew Gardens, not only collecting specimens but growing them and distributing them to other gardens. Most of the oriental flowering plants that are now an integral part of European horticulture – for example, rhododendrons – came from Banks’s collection. Banks saw Kew Gardens as a great exchange house for the British Empire; he used it to help transport plants from one part of the Empire to another – with exempla, of course, remaining at Kew. Here, then, was museum-collecting with a new imperial thrust. As a personal friend of George III, Banks was able to instruct expeditions of the Royal Navy to collect and transport specific samples. He also hired professional collectors, such as Archibald Menzies (1754–1842), who brought back the monkey puzzle tree and the giant redwood, and Mungo Parks (1771–1806), the famous African explorer, who eventually died in Africa trying to discover the route of the Niger. Banks’s two most famous exploits were transplanting tea from China to India in 1788 and transplanting breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies in 1787. The latter employed the services of the HMS Bounty, and sailors impatient with poor conditions for the men while the breadfruit received good treatment mutinied against Captain Bligh and resettled on bleak Pitcairn Island. Perhaps the most astonishing part of the mutiny on the Bounty is that Bligh, with his supporters, succeeded in navigating back to Britain from the Pacific in an open boat and set out soon thereafter with a new ship to transplant the breadfruit, this time successfully.
效仿英国,其他欧洲国家也努力通过科学观察和军事胁迫建立帝国。法国尤其像英国一样,对太平洋进行了帝国主义的争夺。例如,布干维尔伯爵路易·安托万·德·布干维尔(1729-1811)登陆塔希提岛,带回一种以他的名字命名的新植物,九重葛,并启动了让-雅克·卢梭所阐述的高贵野蛮人的哲学范式。让-弗朗索瓦·德·加洛普·拉佩鲁兹指挥了另一次发现、探索和帝国建设的航行,但他的船于 1787 年在太平洋失踪,引发了许多关于他命运的浪漫猜测。人们花费了大量的时间、想象力和金钱试图寻找这支失踪的探险队,但由于法国大革命几乎立即爆发,第一艘被派去搜寻的船只叛变并返回家园,从此再也没有拉佩鲁兹的消息。
Following the British example, other European nations strove to create an empire through scientific observation as well as military coercion. The French, particularly, made an imperial bid for the Pacific just as the British were doing. For example, Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, Comte de Bougainville (1729–1811), landed at Tahiti, brought back a new plant named in his honor, Bougainvillaea, and set in motion the philosophical paradigm of the noble savage, as articulated by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Jean-François de Galaup La Perouse commanded another voyage of discovery, exploration, and empire building, but his ship was lost in the Pacific in 1787, leading to many romantic speculations as to his fate. Much time, imagination, and money were spent trying to find this lost expedition, but since the French Revolution broke out almost immediately, the first ship sent to search mutinied and returned home, and La Perouse was never heard from again.
对于那些留守家乡的人来说,收集和了解自然现象、参加自然哲学讲座的好奇心,以及科学知识的合法性,导致了许多业余科学协会的成立。其中最著名的或许是伯明翰月球学会。
For those who remained at home, the curiosity for collecting and understanding natural phenomena and for attending natural philosophical lectures, as well as the legitimating power of scientific knowledge, led to the formation of a number of amateur-based scientific societies. Perhaps the most famous was the Lunar Society of Birmingham.
月球学会成员的合作体现了科学实用性与工业和经济利益的交汇。该学会总部设在伯明翰,成立于 1765 年,当时一小群人非正式地聚在一起讨论自然哲学和当时的问题。他们称自己为月球圈。1775 年,在威廉·斯莫尔 (William Small,1734-75 年) 和本杰明·富兰克林 (Benjamin Franklin) 的鼓动下,该组织扩大了规模,并更名为月球学会,以表明其成员每月在最接近满月的周日或周一晚上聚会,这样在伯明翰没有路灯的街道上行走时,光线更充足。这些自称为“疯子”的人经常在马修·博尔顿 (Matthew Boulton) 的家 Soho House 举行会议。该学会在 1790 年左右逐渐衰落,主要是因为法国大革命使他们看起来像一个潜在的颠覆性团体,但零星的会议可能一直持续到 1809 年。
The intersection of scientific utility with industrial and economic interest was illustrated by the collaboration of the members of the Lunar Society. Based in Birmingham, it started in 1765 when a small group of men met informally to discuss natural philosophy and issues of the day. They called themselves the Lunar Circle. The group expanded in 1775 at the instigation of William Small (1734–75) and Benjamin Franklin and was renamed the Lunar Society, as a reference to the fact that the members met monthly on the Sunday or Monday evening closest to the full Moon so there was more light by which to travel the unlit streets of Birmingham. Meetings of the “Lunatics,” as they called themselves, often took place at Soho House, Matthew Boulton’s home. The Society faded around 1790, largely because the French Revolution made them seem a potentially subversive group, but sporadic meetings may have continued until 1809.
虽然月球学会从未像当时的各种科学学会那样正式——事实上,它的许多成员也是皇家学会会员 (FRS)——但它更积极地将科学知识的效用付诸实践。自然界的知识不仅仅是为了更好地理解上帝的创造或改善思想。知识是为了改善人类世界。在大多数情况下,这些人认为个人利益和社会利益之间没有区别。许多成员首先是商人,其次是自然哲学家,大多数人从事广泛而多样的工作他们在职业生涯中从事过各种各样的职业。虽然他们对改革的某些方面很感兴趣,但他们可能更适合被称为“改进者”,他们永不停歇,不断修修补补,寻找让事情变得更好的方法,无论是发动机、商业实践、教育还是硫酸生产。特别是,詹姆斯·瓦特与工业家约翰·罗巴克的合作,以及他与马修·博尔顿更为卓有成效的伙伴关系,对推动工业革命的蒸汽机的发展起到了重要作用。
While the Lunar Society was never as formal as the various scientific societies of the day – in fact, many of its members were also Fellows of the Royal Society (FRS) – it took the concept of putting the utility of scientific knowledge into practice far more aggressively. Knowledge of the natural world was not simply for a better understanding of God’s creation or to improve the mind. Knowledge was to improve the human world. For the most part, these men saw no distinction between personal profit and social benefit. Many of the members were businessmen first and natural philosophers second, and most worked in a wide and diverse range of occupations during their careers. While some aspects of reform were of interest to them, they might be better characterized as “improvers,” restless and constantly tinkering and looking for ways to make things work better, whether it was an engine, a business practice, education, or the production of sulphuric acid. In particular, the collaboration of James Watt with the industrialist John Roebuck and his even more fruitful partnership with Matthew Boulton were instrumental in the development of the steam engine that literally powered the Industrial Revolution.
其他哲学社团在全国各地纷纷涌现。例如,曼彻斯特文学与哲学社成立于 1781 年,旨在促进礼貌知识、理性娱乐、技术指导和专业职业。对科学知识的追求既被视为超然的(是一条超越物质世界通往上帝的道路),也被视为基于工业主义和物质世界剥削的新世界秩序的思想认可者。曼彻斯特是一座新兴的制造业城市,其精英公民寻求合法性和一种可以代表他们生活的进步和实用的意识形态。曼彻斯特文学与哲学社(当时的名称)由医务人员创立,包括贵格会教徒、一神论派教徒和制造商。在这个社会中,省级和商业问题比伦敦的指令更重要。伦敦的科学家没有告诉制造商如何经营;同样,制造商也没有告诉科学家该做什么。相反,这些社团为第一代激进分子提供了一个受控的出口,并提供了一种维持第二代赢得的权力的手段。不久之后,Lit 和 Phils 分别在布里斯托尔、波特里斯、纽卡斯尔和爱丁堡成立。
Other philosophical societies sprang up across the country. For example, the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society was founded in 1781 to promote polite knowledge, rational entertainment, technological instruction, and professional occupation. The pursuit of scientific knowledge was seen as both transcendent (as a path to God beyond the material world) and as an intellectual ratifier of a new world order based on industrialism and the exploitation of the material world. Manchester was a new manufacturing city, and its elite citizens sought legitimation and an ideology of progress and utility that could represent their lives. The Manchester Lit and Phil (as it was called) was founded by medical men and included Quakers, Unitarians, and manufacturers. This was a society where provincial and mercantile concerns were more important than London directives. London scientists were not telling manufacturers how to run things; equally, manufacturers were not telling scientists what to do. Rather, these societies provided a controlled outlet for radical agitation in the first generation and a means of maintaining the power won in the second. Soon, Lit and Phils were founded in Bristol, the Potteries, Newcastle, and Edinburgh.
那些为博物馆收集文物或为地质理论收集化石的人经常关心的问题之一是如何对他们的发现进行分类或归类。分类是百科全书编纂者、物质理论家和帝国主义者的目标。只有知道万物的名称以及每种类型或个体在更大范围内的位置,才能控制世界及其资源。在中世纪和文艺复兴时期,分类一直基于存在之链,这是一个严格的等级制度,从上帝、天使、人、动物、植物一直到无生命世界。学者们不再满足于这个系统,因此寻求新的、更理性分类模式。这些思想家设计了理性系统,首先对植物和动物进行分类,后来又对化学元素进行分类,参与了伟大的启蒙运动,以了解一切。
One of the recurring concerns of those collecting artifacts for museums or fossils for geological theorizing was the question of how to categorize or classify their findings. Classification was a goal of the encyclopedists, matter theorists, and imperialists. Control of the world and its resources could come only from knowing the names of everything and where each type or individual fit into the larger scheme of things. Through the Middle Ages and Renaissance, classification had been based on the Great Chain of Being, which was a strict hierarchy descending from God, angels, people, animals, plants, and ending with the inanimate world. Scholars were no longer satisfied by this system and therefore sought new, more rational classification schema. These thinkers devised rational systems to classify first plants and animals and later chemical elements, participating in the great Enlightenment project to know everything.
瑞典植物学家卡尔·冯·林奈 (Karl von Linné) (1707–78) 是十八世纪最成功的植物分类学家之一。他收集了大量植物标本(与邱园的标本不同,这些植物都是干制的,而不是活的),从世界各地的其他收藏家那里收集植物。林奈开发了一种分类系统,最早在《自然系统》(Systema Naturae ) (1735) 中阐述,基于不断增加的特殊性:界、纲、目、属、种、变种。为了对特定植物进行分类,他使用了“人工分类”;也就是说,他的系统基于易于计数和测量但可能与自然界物种没有联系的属性。十八世纪的所有植物分类学家都使用人工系统,但希望有一天能找到物种之间联系的自然基础。事实证明,只有像达尔文那样通过增加时间,这种自然分类才成为可能。林奈根据植物的性别特征建立了自己的系统,具体来说就是计算雄蕊和雌蕊的数量。这不是随机的选择,因为性器官似乎是传递某些基本特征的基础。然后,他开发了一种属和种的双名命名法,至今仍在使用。
Carolus Linnaeus (Karl von Linné) (1707–78), a Swedish botanist, was one of the most successful systematizers in the eighteenth century. He amassed a massive botanical collection (dried, rather than living, as opposed to the collection at Kew), receiving plants from other collectors all over the world. Linnaeus developed a classification system, first articulated in Systema Naturae (1735), based on increasing specificity: Kingdom, Class, Order, Genus, Species, Variety. In order to classify specific plants, he used “artificial classification”; that is, he based his system on attributes that were easily counted and measured but probably did not link the species in nature. All systematizers in the eighteenth century used artificial systems but hoped one day to find the natural basis for connections among species. As it turned out, it was only through adding time, as Darwin did, that such natural classification became possible. Linnaeus based his system on the sexual characteristics of plants, specifically by counting the number of stamens and pistils. This was not random choice, since sexual organs seemed fundamental in passing on certain basic characteristics. He then developed a binomial nomenclature of genus and species, which is still used today.
林奈研究了明确相关的属和种之间的关系,以表达分支分类的概念。也就是说,他认为,从最简单到最复杂的生物体,没有明确的线性进展或层次结构,就像大链理论一样假设,但每个属、每个物种都同样复杂。他把物种之间的关系描绘成地图上的国家,每个物种都与许多其他物种相连。起初,在《植物哲学》(1751 年)中,他主张物种的固定性,认为物种之间不存在转变。到 1760 年,他已经确定许多物种可能有共同的祖先,但他认为这仅仅是由杂交造成的。林奈认为分类是一个封闭的系统,基本上不会出现新物种;因此,理论上所有物种都是可知的。他设想命名图是一个有限的表格,系统化者可以努力填补空白,最终产生对所有生物的完整知识。(这与 19 世纪化学周期表的发展非常相似。)因此,林奈展示了基于特征相似性的物种的自然亲和力,并制定了一个命名所有生物的雄心勃勃的研究计划。
Linnaeus looked at the relationship of clearly related genera and species to express the concept of branching classification. That is, he argued that there was no clear linear progression or hierarchy from simplest to most complex organism, as the Great Chain theory posited, but that each genus, each species, was equally complex. He pictured the relationships of species laid out like countries on a map, with each species touching many others. At first, in Philosophia Botanica (1751), he argued for the fixity of species, seeing no transformation from one to another. By 1760 he had decided that a number of species might have common ancestors but believed that this was caused by hybridization only. Linnaeus saw classification as a closed system in which basically no new species could appear; therefore, all were theoretically knowable. He envisaged the map of nomenclature as a finite table, where systematizers could work to fill in the gaps, eventually producing full knowledge of all living beings. (This was very similar to the development in the nineteenth century of the chemical periodic table.) Thus, Linnaeus showed the natural affinity of species, based on similarity of characteristics, and mapped out an ambitious research program of naming all living things.
6.7林奈自然系统(1735)的页面
6.7 PAGE FROM LINNAEUS’S SYSTEMA NATURAE (1735)
尽管林奈首先是一位植物学家,但他确实将他的命名法和系统转移到了动物的命名上。在此之前,动物的分类一直是按照亚里士多德的四足动物和两足动物,以及鸟类和鱼类进行。林奈努力寻找相似的特征来连接不同的物种。也许他最具争议的举动是通过雌性一半的乳房(即哺乳动物)来识别一组动物。这可能受到林奈本人是瑞典反乳母运动的有影响力的成员这一事实的影响,该运动鼓励上层和中产阶级女性(如他的妻子)母乳喂养自己的孩子。通过将马、狗、猿和人类归为一类,他引发了一场关于人类在自然界中的地位的大辩论,无论是在上帝的计划中还是在生物世界中。
Although Linnaeus was first and foremost a botanist, he did transfer his nomenclature and his system to the naming of animals. Until then, animals had been categorized by the Aristotelian groupings of four-footed versus two-footed, plus birds and fishes. Linnaeus worked to find similar characteristics to link different species. Perhaps his most controversial move was the identification of one group of animals by the mammaries of the female half of the class (that is, mammals). This may have been influenced by the fact that Linnaeus was himself an influential member of the anti-wet-nursing campaign in Sweden, which encouraged upper- and middle-class women (like his own wife) to breastfeed their own children. By grouping together horses, dogs, apes, and humans into a single class, he set in motion a huge debate about the place of human beings in nature, both in God’s plan and in the biological world.
对分类的兴趣与通过研究物质来理解其内在力量来控制自然的问题融合在一起。与数学物理学的趋势相反,数学物理学已被牛顿组织和简化为一系列公理规则,而化学则缺乏一个中心组织概念,甚至没有一个普遍接受的语言和术语;因此,物质理论处于混乱状态。越来越多的物质和过程被发现,但没有一套中心组织原则,这只会意味着有更多令人困惑的东西。工业化学仍然主要是手工艺或行会系统产量有限,但随着欧洲开始工业化,对材料的需求促使生产商扩大生产并寻找新方法。一些材料(火药、染料、酸和沥青等造船材料)需求量很大,以至于它们的生产成为国家大事。
An interest in classification merged with issues of power over nature through understanding its inner forces in the study of matter. Contrary to the trend of mathematical physics, which had been organized and simplified by Newton into a series of axiomatic rules, chemistry lacked a central organizing conception or even a commonly accepted language and nomenclature; as a result, matter theory was in a state of chaos. More substances and processes were being discovered, but without a set of central organizing principles these simply meant there was more to be confused about. Industrial chemistry was still largely a craft or guild system of production, but the demand for materials as Europe began to industrialize pushed producers to expand production and look for new methods. Some materials – gunpowder, dyestuffs, acids, and shipbuilding materials such as pitch – were in such high demand that their production became concerns of national importance.
炼金术虽然仍然很普遍,但却受到自然哲学家越来越多的攻击,他们试图将物质研究置于理性和实验的基础上。自从波义尔出版《怀疑论化学家》(1661 年)以来,这些研究人员一直在努力建立不依赖于隐藏或神秘力量的物质世界研究方法。赫尔曼·布尔哈夫 (Herman Boerhaave, 1668-1738) 于 1732 年出版的《化学元素》 (Elementa chemiae)进一步证实了这一点。这本书被翻译成大多数主要的欧洲语言,被认为是化学的基础文本之一,直到 50 年后被拉瓦锡的著作取代。皮埃尔·约瑟夫·麦凯尔 (Pierre Joseph Macquer, 1718-84) 进一步尝试为化学带来一些秩序。作为一名医生,他在 1745 年被任命为法国科学院院士,他的工作摆脱了波义尔的方法,采用了更牛顿和粒子的系统。 1751 年,他出版了两本有影响力的教科书《化学实用原理》和《化学理论原理》,并于 1766 年出版了《化学词典》。虽然亚里士多德的某些概念仍然残留在麦凯及其同时代人的著作中,但重点越来越放在实验程序和定量分析上。
Alchemy, while still common, was under increasing attack by natural philosophers who sought to put the study of matter on a rational and experimental basis. Since Boyle’s publication of The Skeptical Chymist (1661), these researchers had been working to establish methods for examining the material world that did not depend on hidden or occult forces. This was reinforced by the 1732 publication of the Elementa chemiae (Elements of Chemistry) by Herman Boerhaave (1668–1738). Translated into most major European languages, it was considered to be one of the foundational texts for chemistry until it was supplanted by the work of Lavoisier 50 years later. A further attempt to bring some order to chemistry was introduced by Pierre Joseph Macquer (1718–84). Trained as a physician and appointed to the Académie des Sciences in 1745, his work moved away from Boyle’s approach and adopted a more Newtonian and corpuscular system. In 1751 he published two influential textbooks, Elémens de chymie pratique and Elémens de chymie théorique, and in 1766 produced the Dictionnaire de chymie. Although certain conceptions from Aristotle still lingered in the work of Macquer and his contemporaries, the emphasis was increasingly on experimental procedure and quantitative analysis.
十八世纪许多顶尖化学家都致力于研究气动化学,研究“空气”,或者我们称之为气体。研究各种空气之所以如此重要,有许多原因。首先,它们与生命密切相关,对生命的研究自然很受欢迎。它们还与其他过程有关——例如燃烧、生锈和煅烧——并且是酿造、冶炼和染料制作等许多重要操作的副产品。从知识层面上讲,空气是最精细的物质,因此人们相信,了解它们的结构和行为将为更全面地理解物质打开大门。这遵循了微粒论者的传统,特别是笛卡尔、波义尔和牛顿,他们都认为物质甚至光(就牛顿而言)都是由极小的粒子组成的。
Many of the leading chemists of the eighteenth century worked on pneumatic chemistry, studying “airs,” or, as we call them, gases. There were a number of reasons for the primacy of the study of various airs. First, they were intimately linked to life, and the investigation of life was understandably popular. They were also linked to other processes – for example, combustion, rusting, and calcination – and were the by-product of many important operations such as brewing, smelting, and dye making. On an intellectual level, airs were the finest type of matter, so it was believed that understanding their structure and behavior would open the door to a more general understanding of matter. This followed the tradition of the corpuscularians, particularly Descartes, Boyle, and Newton, who had all argued that matter and even light (in the case of Newton) were made of extremely small particles.
在这越来越多的物质中,只有一个方面是统一的,那就是燃烧的原理。17 世纪和 18 世纪初,许多哲学家研究过燃烧(包括生石灰或生锈和呼吸作用);大多数人都认为火是一种化合物加热时释放出来的物质。在古老的炼金术传统中,火被认为是一种精华或精神。在后来的医学化学传统中,约阿希姆·贝歇尔(Joachim Becher,1635-82 年)等人认为,是油土( terra pinguis)与其他物质结合形成了世界的物质(有点类似于亚里士多德的火元素)。物质中含有的油土越多,其潜在的可燃性就越大。
Only one aspect of this growing list of substances was in any way unified, and that was the principle of combustion. The study of combustion (which included calx or rusting and respiration) had been investigated by a number of philosophers in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries; most had agreed that fire was a substance liberated from compound bodies when they were heated. In the older alchemical tradition, fire was considered an essence or spirit. In the later tradition of iatrochemistry, people such as Joachim Becher (1635–82) argued that it was a terra pinguis, or oil earth (somewhat akin to the Aristotelian fire element) that was combined with other matter to form the materials of the world. The more terra pinguis a material contained, the greater its potential combustibility.
贝歇尔的早期系统由曾与他通信的格奥尔格·恩斯特·斯塔尔 (1660-1734) 修改。1718 年,斯塔尔用燃素取代了terra pinguis,使用了希腊词根phlogos,意为火焰。他认为金属是由石灰和燃素组成的,因此当金属被加热时,燃素会释放到大气中,而石灰则留下。所有易燃物质都含有燃素,但燃素本身具有使其有别于其他形式物质的性质。这个系统允许绘制化学反应图。
Becher’s earlier system was revamped by Georg Ernst Stahl (1660–1734), who had corresponded with him. In 1718 Stahl replaced terra pinguis with phlogiston, using the Greek root phlogos, meaning flame. He argued that metals were composed of calx and phlogiston, so that when the metal was heated, the phlogiston was released into the atmosphere and left behind the calx. All inflammable substances contained phlogiston, but phlogiston itself had properties that set it apart from other forms of matter. This system allowed chemical reactions to be charted.
燃素理论巧妙地解释了燃烧的许多方面。如果一种物质周围的空气中充满了燃素(这种空气于是被“燃素化”),它就会停止燃烧,就像蜡烛放在密闭罐中的情况一样。(见图6.8。)如果所有燃素都从物质中排出,完全形成生石灰,燃烧也会停止。燃素化的空气不支持呼吸,但大气并没有饱和,因为植物会从大气中吸收或固定燃素,并将其返回到易燃的木材中。燃素理论的支持者发现,物质在燃烧或煅烧后往往比之前更重,这表明燃素具有负重量或正轻度,不像牛顿系统中的物质那样被地球吸引。
The phlogiston theory neatly explained many of the aspects of combustion. A substance would stop burning if it saturated the surrounding air with phlogiston (such air was then “phlogisticated”), as in the case of a candle in an enclosed jar. (See figure 6.8.) Combustion would also stop if all the phlogiston was expelled from the substance in the complete formation of a calx. Phlogisticated air would not support respiration, but the atmosphere did not become saturated because plants absorbed or fixed phlogiston from the atmosphere, returning it to the flammable wood. Supporters of the phlogiston theory found that substances were often heavier after combustion or calcination than before, suggesting that phlogiston had negative weight or positive lightness and was not attracted to the Earth like matter in the Newtonian system.
6.8燃素
6.8 PHLOGISTON
十八世纪,许多研究人员继续研究气体。斯蒂芬·黑尔斯(Stephen Hales,1677-1761)发明的技术使气体的收集变得容易得多。黑尔斯发明了气动槽,通过水的置换来收集气体。虽然这种方法可能早于黑尔斯,但他的使用很快被其他实验家采用,如约瑟夫·布莱克(Joseph Black,1728-1799)和亨利·卡文迪什(Henry Cavendish,1731-1810)。布莱克在苏格兰工作,在研究医学博士论文时开始了他的化学研究。他对酸和碱之间的关系以及它们与“固定空气”或今天称为二氧化碳的关系产生了兴趣。布莱克证明了固定空气不会维持燃烧,方法是将他将不可见的气体喷到容器中点燃的蜡烛上,从而扑灭火焰。通过精心测量的实验,他证明了化学反应中化学物质的固定比例,以及固定的空气是大气的组成部分,也是呼气时产生的气体之一。通过这些演示,他表明大气是气体的混合物,而不是亚里士多德和许多后来的系统中认为的元素。
A number of researchers continued the work on airs throughout the eighteenth century. A technical development by Stephen Hales (1677–1761) made the collection of airs much easier. Hales introduced the pneumatic trough in which gases were collected by the displacement of water. While the method may have predated Hales, his use of it was quickly taken up by other experimentalists such as Joseph Black (1728–99) and Henry Cavendish (1731–1810). Black, working in Scotland, began his chemical investigations while researching his doctoral dissertation in medicine. He became interested in the relationship between acids and alkalis and their relation to “fixed air,” or what is today called carbon dioxide. Black demonstrated that fixed air would not sustain combustion by pouring the invisible gas onto a lit candle in a container, thereby putting out the flame. Using carefully measured experiments, he proved that fixed proportions of chemicals combined in chemical reactions and that fixed air was a component of atmospheric air, as well as being one of the gases produced when exhaling. By these demonstrations, he showed that atmospheric air was a mixture of gases and not elemental as it had been considered in the Aristotelian and many later systems.
卡文迪什(剑桥大学卡文迪什实验室以他的名字命名)于 1766 年发现了“易燃空气”(现称为氢气)的特性,并将其与已知燃烧的其他多种气体区分开来。易燃空气的特性使许多人认为它是燃素。1784 年左右,卡文迪什首次明确证明水是一种化合物,推翻了亚里士多德的另一种元素。
Cavendish, after whom the great Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge is named, identified the properties of “inflammable air” (now called hydrogen) in 1766 and distinguished it from a number of other gases that were known to burn. The properties of inflammable air suggested to a number of people that it was phlogiston. Around 1784 Cavendish was the first to demonstrate clearly that water was a compound, undoing another of the Aristotelian elements.
虽然布莱克和卡文迪什的研究范围很广,但研究“气体”性质的最伟大的人是约瑟夫·普里斯特利(1733-1804),他分离和研究的新气体比其他任何研究者都要多。他几乎没有接受过自然哲学的正规培训,但他接触了许多对这个主题感兴趣的人,比如马修·特纳(卒于 1788 年),他是一位曾讲授化学的医生,还有本杰明·富兰克林。当普里斯特利担任谢尔本伯爵二世威廉·佩蒂爵士的图书管理员时,他既有赞助人,也有职位,可以让他从事研究工作。1774 年至 1804 年期间,普里斯特利在自然哲学方面没有受到过正式的培训,但他接触了许多对这个主题感兴趣的人,比如马修·特纳(卒于 1788 年),他是一位曾讲授化学的医生,还有本杰明·富兰克林。当普里斯特利担任谢尔本伯爵二世威廉·佩蒂爵士的图书管理员时,他既有赞助人,也有职位,可以让他从事研究工作。1786 年,他创作了六卷本的《不同种类空气的实验和观察》。他研究了我们现在所说的一氧化氮、氯化氢、氨、二氧化硫和氧气等等。他研究了水(苏打水)中的燃素空气作为坏血病治疗方法的特性。后来证明,他最重要的工作是研究所谓的“脱燃素空气”。当他加热一团水银时,他获得了一种他认为非常易燃的新气体。他推断这种空气本身含有的燃素非常少,以至于燃烧物质中的燃素会冲进来填补这个空隙。与此相反,燃素空气中充满了燃素,以至于没有更多的燃素进入,因此燃烧就无法发生。
While the work of Black and Cavendish was wide-ranging, the greatest researcher on the nature of “airs” was Joseph Priestley (1733–1804), who isolated and studied more new gases than any other investigator. He had little formal training in natural philosophy, but he came into contact with a number of people who were interested in the subject such as Matthew Turner (d. 1788), a physician who had lectured on chemistry, and Benjamin Franklin. When Priestley took a position as librarian to Sir William Petty, second Earl of Shelburne, he had both a patron and a position that allowed him to work on his research. Between 1774 and 1786 he produced six volumes entitled Experiments and Observations on the Different Kinds of Air. He investigated what we would now call nitric oxide, hydrogen chloride, ammonia, sulfur dioxide, and oxygen, among others. He investigated the properties of phlogisticated air in water (seltzer or soda water) as a cure for scurvy. His most important work, as it would turn out, was on what he called “dephlogisticated air.” When he heated a calx of mercury, he obtained what he thought was a new gas that was very combustible. He reasoned that this air contained so little phlogiston itself that the phlogiston in the combusted substance rushed to fill the void. The reverse of this, phlogisticated air, was so full of phlogiston that no more could enter, and thus combustion could not take place.
普里斯特利对化学的兴趣与他激进的政治和宗教观点密切相关。他是一位一神论者,与沃灵顿学院(后来的曼彻斯特学院)的异见学院有联系,该学院提供科学培训,作为其进步和理性目标的一部分。普里斯特利相信进步的理念、人类的完美性以及人类从自然世界开始发现一切真相的能力。因此,他赞成废除镇压性法律,并同情美国和法国革命。就像赫顿的情况一样,普里斯特利变得越来越可疑,尤其是在英国向法国宣战之后。1791 年 7 月 14 日,他在伯明翰的房子被一群暴徒破坏(有时称为普里斯特利暴动)。他于 1794 年离开英国,定居宾夕法尼亚州,在那里他一直支持燃素理论,直到去世。
Priestley’s chemical interests were closely tied to his radical political and religious views. He was a Unitarian, connected with the dissenter academy of Warrington Academy, later Manchester College, which offered science training as part of its goal of progress and rationality. Priestley believed in the idea of progress, the perfectibility of man, and the ability of humans to find out the truth about everything, starting with the natural world. He was, therefore, in favor of the abolition of repressive laws and was sympathetic to both the American and French Revolutions. Just as in the case of Hutton, Priestley became a more and more suspect character, especially once the British declared war on the French. On July 14, 1791, his house in Birmingham was vandalized by a mob (sometimes called the Priestley Riots). He left Britain in 1794 and settled in Pennsylvania, where he continued to support the phlogiston theory until his death.
虽然重要的大气研究工作是在英国进行的,但这项科学研究的中心在法国,特别是巴黎。到 1750 年,巴黎科学院吸引了欧洲大陆一些最有影响力的科学家。由于全职职位有政府薪水,而科学院的名额有限,因此会员资格竞争激烈,政治阴谋也层出不穷。安托万·洛朗·拉瓦锡 (1743-94) 进入了这个沙龙社交圈、科学发展和改革运动的世界。他是一名改革家,意识到他的工作在科学界和法国社会中的政治影响。他追随父亲的脚步开始接受法律高等教育,但他对科学,尤其是化学很感兴趣。1768 年,他在科学院获得了副教授职位,尽管这个职位级别最低且没有薪水,但他还是接受了,决定将自己的一生献给科学。为了资助他的工作,他购买了 Ferme générale 的股份,这是一家私人税收农场,为政府收税。虽然他最终晋升为院士,获得了政府的薪水,但他的个人财富和他在农场的股份使他独立富裕起来。他最终成为一名农场主,是该组织的高级官员之一。虽然这支持了他的研究,但他与税收的联系导致他在 1794 年被革命法庭审判并被判为反革命罪,死在断头台上。
While important work on airs was done in Britain, the center of this scientific research was in France, particularly Paris. By 1750 the Académie des Sciences in Paris had attracted some of the most influential scientists on the continent. Because there was a government salary for full positions and the number of places in the Académie were limited, there was much competition and political intrigue associated with membership. Into this world of salon society, scientific development, and reform movements came Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743–94). He was a reformer, aware of the political implications of his work within science and for French society. He began his higher education in law, following in his father’s footsteps, but was attracted to science, particularly chemistry. He gained an associate position in the Académie in 1768, and, although this position was the lowest rank and unpaid, he took it, deciding to devote his life to science. To finance his work, he took a share in the Ferme générale, a private tax farm, an organization that collected taxes for the government. Although his eventual elevation to Academician status provided him with a government salary, his personal fortune and his share in the Ferme made him independently wealthy. He eventually became a Farmer-General, one of the high officials in the organization. While this supported his research, his association with tax collection led to his death on the guillotine in 1794 when he was tried and convicted by a revolutionary court of being anti-revolutionary.
1771 年,拉瓦锡与费姆合伙人之一的女儿玛丽·安妮·皮埃尔特·保尔泽 (Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze,1758-1836) 结婚。玛丽是拉瓦锡科学和政治生活中不可或缺的一部分。她管理他的事务,学习英语以便为他翻译材料,并负责实验室工作。她与路易·大卫一起学习艺术,并负责拉瓦锡作品的雕刻。为了顺应沙龙文化,她每周两次在家里招待知识分子,由她主持。即使在拉瓦锡被处决后,她仍继续这样做。在这方面,她符合科学界女性的模式,她们在幕后工作,通常是科学事业中不具名的合伙人。
In 1771 Lavoisier married Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze (1758–1836), the daughter of one of the Ferme’s partners. Marie was integral to Lavoisier’s scientific and political life. She managed his affairs, learned English so that she could translate materials for him, and attended to laboratory work. She studied art with Louis David and was responsible for the engravings that accompanied Lavoisier’s work. In keeping with salon culture, she hosted the twice-weekly meeting of intellectuals that Lavoisier entertained in their home. She continued this practice even after his execution. In this, she fits a pattern of women in science who work behind the scenes and who were often unnamed partners in the scientific enterprise.
作为法国科学院院士,拉瓦锡也是一名公务员,他被期望将自己的才智用于服务国家。鉴于他精力充沛、对改革充满兴趣,他非常乐意承担各种主题的报告,包括审查巴黎的供水、监狱状况、食品掺假、气球飞行以及一系列工业问题,如陶瓷工业、玻璃制造和墨水制造。他还致力于农业改革,于 1785 年成为农业委员会成员。由于他为国家所做的工作和他作为化学家的才能,他被任命为皇家火药和硝石管理局局长,并负责改进法国火药,因为法国火药的质量通常很差,而且原材料很难获得。在这个职位上,他得到了巴黎兵工厂的一栋漂亮的房子和宽敞的实验室空间。
Lavoisier, as a member of the Académie, was also a public servant, expected to place his intellectual abilities at the service of the state. Given his energy and interest in reform, he was more than willing to undertake reports on a wide variety of subjects, including a review of the water supply of Paris, the condition of prisons, adulteration of food, ballooning, and a range of industrial concerns such as the ceramic industry, glass making, and ink manufacturing. He also worked on the reform of agriculture, becoming a member of the Committee on Agriculture in 1785. In connection with his work for the state and his prowess as a chemist, he was made director of the Royal Gunpowder and Saltpeter Administration and was set the task of improving French gunpowder, which was often of very poor quality and whose raw materials were difficult to obtain. In this position he was given a fine house at the Paris Arsenal and ample space for a laboratory.
1774 年,普里斯特利访问巴黎时,他与拉瓦锡讨论了自己在脱燃素空气方面的工作,拉瓦锡一直在寻找支持呼吸和燃烧的大气成分。讽刺的是,拉瓦锡利用普里斯特利的发现推翻了燃素理论。到 1777 年,他得出结论,“完全可呼吸的空气”通过燃烧和呼吸转化为“固定的空气”。由于与酸的关系,他将这种空气命名为oxygène(希腊语中的“酸形成物”)。到 1778 年,他证明大气是这种可呼吸空气和惰性空气的混合物。这为进一步的实验打开了大门,包括证明水是由氧气和卡文迪什的可燃空气组成的。这些实验说服了拉瓦锡他认为燃素系统行不通,于是在 1783 年向法国科学院提交了一篇题为《燃素反思》的论文,阐述了旧理论的问题以及他的氧气系统如何解决这些问题。这一有争议的立场不仅为拉瓦锡赢得了包括约瑟夫·布莱克在内的许多支持者,还遭到了包括麦奎尔和普里斯特利本人在内的著名化学家的强烈抵制。
When Priestley visited Paris in 1774, he discussed his work on dephlogisticated air with Lavoisier, who had been looking for the component part of the atmosphere that supported respiration and combustion. Ironically, Lavoisier used Priestley’s discovery to destroy the phlogiston theory. By 1777 he had concluded that “eminently respirable air” was converted to “fixed air” by combustion and respiration. Because of its relation to acids, he named this air oxygène (“acid former” in Greek). By 1778 he demonstrated that atmospheric air was a combination of this respirable air and an inert air. This opened the door for a number of further experiments, including a demonstration that water was composed of oxygen and Cavendish’s inflammable air. These experiments convinced Lavoisier that the phlogiston system could not work, and in 1783 he submitted a paper to the Académie entitled Reflections on Phlogiston that set out the problems of the old theory and how his oxygen system solved them. This controversial position gained Lavoisier not only a number of supporters, including Joseph Black, but also stiff resistance from prominent chemists, including Macquer and Priestley himself.
抛弃燃素理论留下了一个与热有关的问题。如果冰和呼吸作用只是化学组合,那么热又是什么呢?拉瓦锡与数学家兼物理学家皮埃尔-西蒙·拉普拉斯一起重新阐述了热在系统中的位置,引入了热质概念来取代燃素原理。为了量化热量的产生,他们发明了冰量热计,利用熔化潜热来演示化学反应和呼吸作用中热量的消耗。(见图6.9。)约瑟夫·布莱克于 1760 年发现了潜热,当时他注意到在熔点时,额外的热量会融化冰而不会升高其温度(直到水开始升温时所有冰都融化)。因此,需要特定数量的热量才能将一定体积的冰融化成水。通过测量水的量,可以计算出热量。拉瓦锡认为热质是一种无法衡量的流体,当它加入其他物质中时会导致其他物质膨胀。例如,在碳和氧燃烧时,产生的二氧化碳具有原始物质的总重量,并以热和光的形式释放热量。虽然后来证明这一概念是错误的,但拉普拉斯和拉瓦锡的能量测量方法是食物能量卡路里的基础。
Discarding phlogiston left a problem concerning heat. If calx and respiration were simply a chemical combination, what was heat? With the mathematician/physicist Pierre-Simon Laplace, Lavoisier reformulated the place of heat in the system, introducing the concept of caloric to replace the principle of phlogiston. To quantify the production of heat, they created the ice calorimeter, which used the latent heat of fusion to demonstrate the expiration of heat from chemical reactions and respiration. (See figure 6.9.) Latent heat had been identified by Joseph Black in 1760 when he noticed that at the melting point additional heat melted ice without raising its temperature (until all the ice was melted when the water began to heat up). Thus, a specific quantity of heat was needed to melt a certain volume of ice into water. By measuring the amount of water, the amount of heat could be calculated. Lavoisier considered caloric to be an imponderable fluid that caused other substances to expand when it was added to them. For example, during the combustion of carbon and oxygen, the resulting carbon dioxide had the combined weight of the original substances and gave up the caloric as heat and light. Although the concept later proved to be wrong, Laplace and Lavoisier’s measurement of energy is the basis for the calorie of food energy.
6.9拉瓦锡和拉普拉斯的冰量热计,源自拉瓦锡的《化学要素》(1789)
6.9 LAVOISIER AND LAPLACE’S ICE CALORIMETER FROM LAVOISIER’S ELEMENTS OF CHEMISTRY (1789)
拉瓦锡和他的一些支持者决定,要将化学置于合理而实用的基础上——在这种情况下,这意味着他的体系和对燃素理论的拒绝——他们必须改革整个化学。为了遵循人文主义和启蒙哲学,他们从语言开始,并于 1787 年与克劳德·路易·贝托莱 (1748-1822)、安托万·弗朗索瓦·德·福尔克罗伊 (1755-1809) 和 LB Guyton de Morveau 合作(1737–1816),拉瓦锡发表了《化学命名方法》。这项工作试图统一和系统化化学物质和元素的命名,用拉丁语和希腊语词根取代旧的俗名。因此,“硫酸酒石”、“盐二重奏”和“秘密二重奏”都变成了钾。除了词根名外,化合物还用各种后缀来区分它们的类别。由硫酸形成的盐称为硫酸盐,而由亚硫酸形成的盐称为亚硫酸盐。使用命名体系实际上意味着接受拉瓦锡背后的氧气理论,从而确保他的体系将成为化学研究的新途径。
Lavoisier and a number of his supporters decided that to put chemistry on a rational and useful foundation – in this case meaning his system and the rejection of the phlogiston theory – they would have to reform all of chemistry. In keeping with humanist and Enlightenment philosophy, they started with language, and in 1787 in collaboration with Claude Louis Berthollet (1748–1822), Antoine François de Fourcroy (1755–1809), and L.B. Guyton de Morveau (1737–1816), Lavoisier published Méthode de nomenclature chimique. This work attempted to unify and systematize the naming of chemicals and elements, replacing old common names with Latin and Greek roots. Thus “vitriolated tartar,” “sal de duobus,” and “arcanum duplicatam” all became potash. In addition to the root names, compounds were distinguished with various suffixes to indicate their classes. Salts formed by sulphuric acid were called sulphates, while those formed from sulphorous acid were sulphites. Using the system of nomenclature in effect meant accepting Lavoisier’s underlying oxygen theory, thereby ensuring that his system would be the new path for chemical research.
最初,反对拉瓦锡新体系的声音非常强烈,尤其是老化学家。他的说服活动不仅在正式的出版界和科学院进行,也在沙龙中进行。在玛丽主持的每周两次的会议上,他招待了几乎所有访问巴黎的重要自然哲学家。作为科学院院长(从 1785 年起),他操纵化学部门的组织,使其只由反燃素论者组成。当《物理杂志》的编辑控制权于 1789 年被燃素论者接管时,拉瓦锡和他的弟子皮埃尔·阿德特(1763-1834)创办了《化学年鉴》,以努力改善化学报道和质量。这本杂志至今仍是领先的科学出版物。
Initially, opposition to Lavoisier’s new system was very strong, especially among older chemists. His campaign of persuasion was carried out not only in the formal world of publishing and the Académie des Sciences but also in the salons. In the twice-weekly meetings hosted by Marie he entertained virtually every important natural philosopher who visited Paris. As director of the Académie from 1785, he manipulated the organization of the chemistry section so that it was made up only of anti-phlogistonists. When the editorial control of the Journal de physique was taken over by phlogistonists in 1789, Lavoisier and his disciple Pierre Adet (1763–1834) founded the Annales de chimie in an effort to improve both the reporting on and quality of chemistry. This journal continues to be a leading scientific publication today.
1789 年拉瓦锡出版了他最具影响力的著作《化学要素》。这本书汇集了他工作的方方面面,介绍了他的命名法、实验系统和仪器、测量方法和标准,并广泛汇编了他的系统下识别的所有元素和化合物。这本书被广泛阅读和迅速翻译,给燃素理论以致命一击。从本质上讲,如果年轻化学家或对物质理论感兴趣的人不熟悉拉瓦锡的系统,就不能声称自己是该领域的先行者。他的命名法非常实用,很快就成为使用最广泛的系统,并附带他的化学理论。同样,测量和实验也成为化学研究中不可或缺的一部分,为与旧定性实践截然不同的项目铺平了道路。
In 1789 Lavoisier published his most influential book, Traité élémentaire de chimie (Elements of Chemistry). This brought together all aspects of his work, introducing his nomenclature, his experimental system and apparatus, and his methods and standards of measurement, and including an extensive compilation of all elements and compounds recognized under his system. Widely read and quickly translated, it gave the death blow to the phlogiston theory. Essentially, no young chemist or person interested in matter theory could claim to be current in the field without being acquainted with Lavoisier’s system. His nomenclature was so functional that it quickly came to be the most widely used system, carrying his theory of chemistry with it. Equally, measurement and experimentation became integral to chemical research, paving the way for very different projects than were possible with the older qualitative practice.
化学革命的第一阶段随着法国大革命而结束。拉瓦锡是一位改革家和政治温和派,他希望利用科学来支持一个崭新、更进步的法国。他努力通过生产火药的系统、农业改革和地质工作使法国在知识和实践上都变得强大。当革命恐怖统治期间,拉瓦锡通过包税农场与旧政权的联系使他在激进分子眼中成为嫌疑犯。他与其他 27 名农场成员一起被举报和逮捕。他们的审判只持续了几个小时,尽管指控没有实质内容,但定罪实际上是预料之中的事,拉瓦锡或他的朋友说的任何话都无法影响结果。1794 年 5 月 8 日,当拉瓦锡被送上断头台时,法国和科学界失去了一位最有影响力的人物。拉格朗日在谈到拉瓦锡的死时说:“这颗头颅的落下只花了一瞬间,一百年也不足以产生这样的人。” 3
The first stage of the chemical revolution ended with the French Revolution. Lavoisier, who was a reformer and political moderate, had hoped to use science to support a new and more progressive France. He had worked hard to make France powerful, both intellectually and in practical terms with his system for producing gunpowder, agricultural reform, and geological work. When the Revolution degenerated into the Terror, Lavoisier’s link to the old regime through the tax farm made him suspect in the eyes of the radicals. He was denounced and arrested along with 27 other members of the Ferme. Their trial lasted just a few hours, and, although the charges were without substance, the convictions were really a foregone conclusion, and nothing Lavoisier or his friends said could sway the outcome. When Lavoisier went to the guillotine on May 8, 1794, France and science lost one of its most powerful minds. Lagrange said of Lavoisier’s death that “it took only a moment to cause this head to fall and a hundred years will not suffice to produce its like.”3
随着化学成为一门公共而系统的研究,自然哲学家和越来越多的科学学者开始认真考虑物质的嬗变问题。最后一件事实际上关闭了炼金术和炼金术士的大门。这就是詹姆斯·普莱斯的事件,他于 1752 年出生于伦敦,本名为詹姆斯·希金博坦。虽然他于 1782 年以医生的身份从牛津大学玛格达伦学院毕业,但他一年前就被选为皇家学会会员,部分原因是他在化学方面的工作。毕业后,他邀请一些重要人物到他家做客,声称自己把汞变成了金子。他将一种神秘的白色粉末加入 50 倍重量的汞中,混入一些硼砂和硝石,然后将混合物放入坩埚中加热。结果产生了一块银锭。当普莱斯对 60 倍重量的汞进行同样的操作时,产品就是金子。经检验,这些锭确实是真正的金属,并被展示给国王。
With the rise of chemistry as a public and systematic study, inquiry into the transmutation of materials faded from the realm of serious consideration by natural philosophers and the increasing number of academicians studying science. One final episode effectively closed the door on alchemy and alchemists. This was the affair of James Price, born James Higginbotham in London in 1752. Although he graduated from Magdalen Hall, Oxford, as a medical doctor in 1782, he had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society a year earlier, in part because of his work on chemistry. After his graduation, he invited some important people to his home, claiming to have transmuted mercury to gold. He added a mysterious white powder to 50 times its weight in mercury, mixed in some borax and niter, and heated the mixture in a crucible. It produced an ingot of silver. When Price followed the same procedure with 60 times the weight of mercury, the product was gold. The ingots were found to be genuine metal and shown to the king.
这引起了轰动,普莱斯对炼金术的旧骗局进行了新的尝试。他没有直接为自己的工作争取赞助,而是写了一本关于他实验的小册子,后来成为畅销书。到 1783 年,普莱斯说他的白色粉末库存已经耗尽,制造更多的白色粉末在成本、劳动力和健康消耗方面都过于昂贵,因为他暗示制造白色粉末需要一些精神上的努力。
This created a sensation, and Price introduced a new twist to the old con of alchemy. Rather than gaining patronage directly for his work, he wrote a pamphlet on his experiments that became a bestseller. By 1783 Price said that his supply of white powder was exhausted, and the cost of making more would be too great in expense, labor, and drain on his health, since he hinted that some spiritual effort was required to make it.
约瑟夫·布莱克审查了普莱斯的工作,说其中有一大堆错误。他说,他很惊讶普莱斯竟然获得过医学学位。支持者和反对者纷纷加入争论,直到成立了一个委员会来调查此事。普莱斯一度拒绝合作,但学会和朋友的压力迫使他接受调查。他有六个星期的时间准备,但一切都是徒劳的。当皇家医学中心的三名观察员组成的小组研究人员们来了,他把他们带到实验室,告辞离开。他喝了一小瓶氢氰酸,回到实验室,倒在研究人员的脚下死去。实际上,炼金术也随他而去,因为这件事发生后,欧洲的科学界除了揭穿真相外,再也没有人注意到炼金术的说法。
Joseph Black reviewed Price’s work and said that it was a mass of errors. He was astonished, he said, that Price had ever received a medical degree. Supporters and detractors rushed into the fray, until a committee was struck to investigate the situation. Price refused for some time to cooperate, but pressure from the Society and his friends forced him to accept the investigation. He had six weeks to prepare, but it was all for nothing. When the team of three observers from the Royal Society arrived, he showed them into his laboratory, excused himself, and left. He drank a vial of hydrocyanic acid, returned to the laboratory, and dropped dead at the feet of the investigators. In effect, alchemy died with him, since after this incident no scientific society in Europe would notice alchemical claims except to debunk them.
法国大革命和随后席卷欧洲的战争终结了许多自然哲学家更为激进或“自由思想”的立场。在 1790 年代,对自然现象、行星发展和物种进化的理性世俗解释成为危险的想法。尽管如此,自然哲学在这一启蒙时期发生了转变。定量分析、逻辑和理性的分类系统、测量和解释曾经被视为深奥的电和热等现象——所有这些都是一个世纪发展的遗产。
The French Revolution and the Europe-wide warfare that followed put an end to the more radical or “free-thinking” positions of a number of natural philosophers. Rational secular explanations for natural phenomena, planetary development, and the evolution of species became dangerous ideas in the 1790s. Nonetheless, natural philosophy had transformed in this Enlightenment period. Quantitative analysis, logical and rational classification systems, measuring and explaining phenomena such as electricity and heat that had once been seen as esoteric – all this was the legacy of a century of development.
最终摆脱了革命和战争混乱局面的持久改革之一是公制计量系统。即使在一个国家内,也常常没有统一的计量系统。例如,法国有大约 300 种不同的重量单位。早在 1670 年,法国牧师加布里埃尔·穆顿就提议利用科学原理改革度量衡系统。1742 年,瑞典天文学家安德斯·摄尔修斯 (1701-44) 发明了摄氏温标,这是第一个被科学界广泛采用的重要十进制(十进制)计量系统。在改革思想盛行的 1790 年代,托马斯·杰斐逊在美国提出了一种基于十进制的计量系统,虽然这个想法没有实施,但美国铸币厂于 1792 年推出了十进制货币。1790 年,法国国王路易十六授权法国科学院对法国度量衡改革进行调查。五年后,法国共和政府正式采用公制。虽然我们今天所知的科学测量系统 SI(国际单位制)是十九世纪国际会议的产物,但统一单位和综合测量系统的概念(例如,固定体积的水等于特定质量)却是建立在启蒙运动革命性改革的基础上的。
One of the lasting reforms that eventually transcended the chaos of revolution and warfare was the metric system of measurement. Even within a single country, there was often no uniform set of measurements. France, for example, had around 300 different units of weight. As early as 1670 Gabriel Mouton, a French vicar, proposed to reform the systems of weights and measures using scientific principles. In 1742 Anders Celsius (1701–44), a Swedish astronomer, introduced the centigrade thermometric scale, the first important decimal (base ten) measuring system to be widely adopted in science. In the reform-minded era of the 1790s, Thomas Jefferson proposed a decimal-based system for measurement in the United States, and while this idea was not enacted, the American mint introduced decimal currency in 1792. In 1790 Louis XVI of France authorized an investigation into the reform of French weights and measures by the Académie des Sciences. Five years later the French Republican government officially adopted the metric system. Although the measurement system of science we know today as SI (Système internationale d’unités) was the product of international conferences in the nineteenth century, the concept of a measuring system that was both uniform in units and integrated (a fixed volume of water equaling a specific mass, for example) was founded on the revolutionary reforms of the Enlightenment.
正如启蒙运动和工业革命创造了全新的职业类别一样,在这个时代,我们也看到了科学家的诞生:通过职业、教育和协会,科学家将新科学作为他们毕生的工作。科学家专注于他们关于自然的知识的实用性,研究他们的研究如何改善公民的生活、国家权力和股份制公司的底线。科学现在与十九世纪的伟大帝国计划密不可分。
Just as the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution created whole new categories of jobs, so too in this age we see the creation of scientists: people who by profession, education, and association made the new science their life’s work. Scientists concentrated on the utility of their knowledge about nature, investigating ways in which their study could improve the lives of citizens, the power of the state, and the bottom line of joint-stock companies. Science was now inexorably intertwined with the great imperial project of the nineteenth century.
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1.约瑟夫·拉格朗日,“序言”,Mécanique analytique(巴黎:Gauthier-Villars et fils,1889),1。
1. Joseph Lagrange, “Preface,” Mécanique analytique (Paris: Gauthier-Villars et fils, 1889), 1.
2.詹姆斯·赫顿,《地球理论》,《爱丁堡皇家学会学报》 4(1788):304。
2. James Hutton, “Theory of the Earth,” Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 4 (1788): 304.
3.JJ O'Connor 和 EF Robertson,《约瑟夫-路易斯·拉格朗日》,MacTutor 数学史,最后修改于 1999 年 1 月,https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Lagrange/。
3. J.J. O’Connor and E.F. Robertson, “Joseph-Louis Lagrange,” MacTutor History of Mathematics, last modified January 1999, https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Lagrange/.
十九世纪是欧洲帝国的鼎盛时期。尽管欧洲的探险和殖民活动开始得早得多,但欧洲国家,尤其是大西洋沿岸的国家,如今已在经济、军事和政治上统治着全球各地。蒸汽机、电报和工厂征服了时间、空间和物质欲望。地球上没有哪个地方是帝国无法触及的,这些帝国的旗帜被带到了最偏远和最艰难的地方。随着西欧快速工业化,它越来越多地转向殖民地获取自然资源和垄断市场。工业化和殖民主义都促进了科学的发展,这提供了更好地了解世界的能力,并揭示了将殖民地的自然资源转化为财富的方法。这并不是严格意义上的单向交流,因为非欧洲国家开始从与欧洲思想的接触中吸收思想和实践,包括对自然的研究。与此同时,对于那些殖民地有限的欧洲国家来说,科学提供了一种应对经济劣势的方法,即创造新的工具和技术来解决因缺乏廉价自然资源而造成的问题。
The nineteenth century was the great age of European empires. Although European exploration and colonization started much earlier, European nations, especially those on the Atlantic coast, now dominated all parts of the globe economically, militarily, and politically. The steam engine, the telegraph, and the factory conquered time, space, and material desires. No part of the globe was beyond the reach of empire, and the flags of those empires were carried to the most remote and challenging places. As Western Europe underwent rapid industrialization, it turned more and more to colonial holdings for natural resources and captive markets. Both industrialization and colonialism helped to spur the development of science, which offered the ability to know the world better and revealed ways to turn the natural resources of the colonial holdings into wealth. This was not strictly a one-way exchange, as non-European countries started to adopt ideas and practices, including the study of nature, from their contacts with European thought. At the same time, for those European nations that had limited colonial holdings, science offered a way to deal with economic disadvantage by creating new tools and techniques to solve problems that resulted from a lack of cheap natural resources.
殖民游戏的最大赢家是英国。1815 年拿破仑战败后,英国最强大的对手被制服,世界在很大程度上被英国无拘无束地剥削。法国不仅在战场上被击败,而且在商店和工厂中也被击败。英国工业在其殖民实力的支持下,产量超过了法国,因此每颗子弹、帐篷和海军舰艇的成本都低于法国并且生产速度和数量都比法国快得多。尽管美国殖民地于 1776 年脱离了英国的统治,但与英国对印度和非洲、中东和亚洲部分地区的控制相比,它们只占英国控制的一小部分。尽管英国和美国之间有一个世纪的猜疑和冲突,在 1812 年战争期间加剧,美国内战期间英国与南部邦联的贸易也加剧了这种猜疑和冲突,但英国在整个时期仍然是美国最大的贸易伙伴。
The big winner of the colonial game was Britain. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 the strongest rival to British power was subdued, largely leaving the world open to unfettered British exploitation. France had been defeated not just on the battlefield but also in the shops and factories. British industry, backed by its colonial strength, out-produced France, so that every bullet, tent, and naval vessel cost less and was produced faster and in greater numbers than France could match. Although the American colonies had broken away from British rule in 1776, they represented only a minor part of British holdings when compared to its control of India and parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. And, despite a century of suspicion and conflict between Britain and the United States, heightened during the War of 1812 and British trade with the Confederacy during the American Civil War, Britain remained the United States’ largest trading partner throughout the era.
矛盾的是,英国的强权为欧洲大陆一系列政治重组铺平了道路,这些重组挑战了英国的霸权。1870-1871 年的普法战争导致奥托·冯·俾斯麦统一了德国各州,而意大利各州则由加里波第统一,并于 1870 年受到维克托·伊曼纽尔二世的政治控制。20 世纪的战争根源于 19 世纪形成的权力集团。
Paradoxically, Britain’s power helped pave the way for a series of political realignments on the continent that came to challenge British supremacy. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1 led to the unification of the German states by Otto von Bismarck, while the Italian states were unified by Garibaldi and came under the political control of Victor Emmanuel II by 1870. The wars of the twentieth century were rooted in the power blocks created in the nineteenth century.
帝国的“大博弈”固然重要,但同样引人注目的是,那些留在国内的人在事件发生后的几天甚至几小时内就阅读了报道并看到了这些地方的图像。1804 年,理查德·特里维西克 (1771-1833) 和马修·默里 (1765-1826) 制造了第一台蒸汽机车,引发了一场交通革命,到本世纪末,铁路铺设了数十万公里。1819 年,萨凡纳号首次横跨大西洋,蒸汽船完成了这一壮举,到本世纪中叶,蒸汽船取代了帆船。尽管机车和蒸汽船的速度越来越快,但它们无法超越电报在全球范围内传递信息的速度。铁路、蒸汽船和电报之间,控制全球帝国和国际贸易所需的信息流现在已经成为可能。
As important as the “great game” of empire was, equally remarkable was the fact that those who stayed back home were reading reports and seeing images of those places within days or even hours of the events. In 1804 Richard Trevithick (1771–1833) and Matthew Murray (1765–1826) built the first steam engine tramway locomotives, starting a transportation revolution that saw hundreds of thousands of kilometers of rail laid by the end of the century. The first transatlantic voyage by a steam-powered ship was made by the Savannah in 1819, and by the middle of the century steamships were replacing sailing ships. As swift as the locomotives and the steamships became, they could not beat the speed of the telegraph for moving information around the globe. Between rail, steamship, and telegraph, the information flow needed to control global empires and international trade was now possible.
随着欧洲帝国主义的大规模扩张,科学家和普通民众对收集发现的许多新奇物种的兴趣越来越浓厚。对奇异和独特事物的狂热仍在继续,珍奇柜和珍奇鸟类、昆虫和狩猎战利品的陈列成为许多中产阶级家庭的特色。对于严肃的研究人员来说,收藏让位于对秩序和联系的探索。在林奈之后,十八世纪的收藏科学变成了十九世纪的生物科学。这与分类和理解是这是控制和剥削过程的一部分,因此与帝国计划紧密相连。
With the major expansion of European imperialism, both scientists and the general public became more and more interested in collecting the many new and exotic species discovered. The mania for the bizarre and unique continued, and curio cabinets and displays of exotic birds, bugs, and hunting trophies were a feature of many middle-class homes. For the serious researcher, collecting gave way to a search for order and connection. After Linnaeus, the collecting sciences of the eighteenth century became the biological sciences of the nineteenth. This was deeply connected to the notion that classification and understanding were part of the process of controlling and exploiting and, so, were bound up with the imperial project.
我们可以通过一个人的职业生涯来追溯生物世界研究从十八世纪自然史到十九世纪生物学的转变,他就是亚历山大·冯·洪堡 (1769-1859)。洪堡是一位普鲁士军官的儿子,他选择了科学旅行家和博物学家的职业,而不是他父亲所设想的外交生活。他受到博物学家与库克船长的航行的影响,并于 1799 年开始了自己在西班牙美洲的长期旅行。结果,他写了一系列畅销的旅行和自然历史书籍。但洪堡对动植物的描述与班克斯或其他十八世纪博物学家的描述截然不同。他将使用精密仪器的精确测量与密集的实地考察以及所有生物相互联系的整体概念相结合。他对此最伟大的阐述出现在他的最后一部多卷作品《宇宙》(1848-59 年)中,这部作品对未来的科学家影响很大。一些历史学家称之为洪堡科学,它有助于生物学家(尤其是在美国)强烈依赖实地考察,并创造对生物世界的原生态理解。
We can trace the transformation of the study of the living world from eighteenth-century natural history to nineteenth-century biology through the career of one man, Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859). The son of a Prussian military officer, Humboldt chose the career of a scientific traveler and naturalist rather than the diplomatic life his father had envisaged. He was influenced by the naturalists’ voyages with Captain Cook and, in 1799, set out on his own prolonged travels through Spanish America. The result was a series of travel and natural history books that were bestsellers. But Humboldt’s descriptions of flora and fauna differed markedly from those of Banks or other eighteenth-century naturalists. He combined exact measurement using precise instruments with intensive fieldwork and an overall concept of the interconnectedness of all living things. His greatest articulation of this came in his final multivolume work Cosmos (1848–59), which was very influential for future scientists. Humboldtian science, as some historians have called it, was instrumental in engendering a strong reliance on fieldwork among biologists, especially in the United States, and in creating a proto-ecological understanding of the living world.
随着更多潜在可利用物种的发现,新的动植物分类仍在继续。博物学家和探险家们寻找并发现了这些新植物的用途,就像汉斯·斯隆对巧克力所做的那样。这通常涉及与土著人民的互动并利用他们对自然世界的知识。在许多情况下,这种互动始于平等者之间的知识交流,逐渐转变为一种高度等级化和剥削的关系。最重要的发现之一是奎宁,这是唯一已知的治疗疟疾的药物;在欧洲人更多地接触这种疾病的时代,它帮助帝国主义在赤道地区得以实现。奎宁本身是殖民主义的产物,因为它来自秘鲁的一种树皮,并于 17 世纪 30 年代由当地人引入西班牙。林奈给这种植物取的植物学名称是金鸡纳,以 1638 年秘鲁总督的妻子安娜·钦琼伯爵夫人命名。尽管这个故事可能是杜撰的,但据说钦琼伯爵夫人患上了疟疾,并用奎宁树皮成功治愈,从而确保了其使用的广泛传播。由于金鸡纳难以种植且价格昂贵,因此生产人工奎宁的努力成为有机化学的重大探索之一。
The categorization of new flora and fauna continued with the discovery of additional, and potentially exploitable, species. Naturalists and explorers searched out and found uses for these new plants, much as Hans Sloane had done with chocolate. Often this involved interacting with Indigenous peoples and appropri-ating their knowledge of their natural world. In many cases this interaction began as an exchange of knowledge among equals and gradually moved to a deeply hierarchical and exploitative relationship. One of the most important discoveries was that of quinine, the only known treatment for malaria; in an era of greater European exposure to the disease, it helped make imperialism in the equatorial regions possible. Quinine was itself a product of colonialism, since it came from the bark of a tree found in Peru and was introduced to the Spanish by the local people in the 1630s. The botanical name given to the plant by Linnaeus was Cinchona, after Countess Ana of Chinchon, the wife of a Viceroy of Peru in 1638. Although the story is probably apocryphal, Countess Chinchon supposedly became ill with malaria and was successfully treated with quinine bark, thus ensuring the spread of its use. Because Cinchona was hard to grow and expensive, the efforts to produce artificial quinine became one of the great quests of organic chemistry.
随着帝国与其他民族相遇、贸易,甚至在许多情况下征服其他民族,科学的分类方法也开始将人类纳入其中。林奈将人类归类为会思考的哺乳动物(智人) ,为这一分类铺平了道路。此外,他还声称人类有四个人种:欧洲人、亚洲人和非洲人(与希腊的三分世界观一致),加上新世界人种——美洲人。他的门徒之一约翰·弗里德里希·布鲁门巴赫(Johann Friedrich Blumenbach,1752-1840 年)进一步发展了这一分类,建立了这些民族之间的关系模型。他认为,所有人都属于同一物种,但各个种族之间存在着完美等级。布鲁门巴赫认为高加索山脉的人是最完美的人种,也是他见过的最美丽的人种,然后将其他种族绘制成向东和向西迁移时逐渐退化的种族。为了建立一个对称的模型,他添加了第五个种族——马来人。(见图7.1。)
As the empires encountered, traded with, and on many occasions subjugated other peoples, the scientific move to classify came to include human beings as well. Linnaeus had paved the way for this through his classification of humans as thinking mammals (Homo sapiens). Further, he claimed that there were four races of humans: Europeans, Asians, and Africans (in keeping with the Greek tripartite division of the world), plus the New World race, the Americans. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752–1840), one of his protégés, furthered this categorization by developing a model of relations among these peoples. He believed that all people were of one species, but that there was a hierarchy of perfection among the races. Blumenbach used the people from the Caucus mountains, the most beautiful people he had ever seen, as the race with maximum perfection and then plotted the other races as degenerating from the norm as they moved away to the east and west. In order to have a symmetrical model, he added a fifth race, the Malays. (See figure 7.1.)
7.1布鲁门巴赫的种族分布
7.1 BLUMENBACH’S RACE DISTRIBUTION
尽管布鲁门巴赫的分类法并非旨在表明发展等级,或暗示高加索人种以下的人种更接近动物,但 19 世纪的种族理论家很快就将这种金字塔视为生物和文化成就的象征,并以此作为剥削的借口和机会。也许最令人震惊的例子是南非科伊人萨尔杰(莎拉)巴特曼的故事。1810 年,英国海军外科医生威廉·邓洛普将她带到英国,以“霍屯督维纳斯”的名义在杂耍表演中展出。这引起了丑闻,因为当时英国禁止奴隶制,最终莎拉的表演转移到了法国。居维叶等科学家非常渴望对她进行研究,尤其是因为她独特的解剖特征,但巴特曼拒绝了。 1816 年,她最终在巴黎街头以一名穷困妓女的身份孤独地死去。她死后,被一名法国外科医生解剖,她的各种身体部位一直陈列在巴黎自然历史博物馆,直到 1949 年,之后又在巴黎人类博物馆展出,直到 1974 年。1
Although Blumenbach had not intended his categorization to indicate a hierarchy of development, or to imply that somehow the races below the Caucasians were closer to animals, nineteenth-century racial theorists soon took this pyramid as indicative of biological and cultural achievement and as an excuse and opportunity for exploitation. Perhaps the most egregious example of this is the story of Saartjie (Sarah) Baartmann, a Khoi native of South Africa, who was taken to Britain in 1810 by William Dunlop, a British naval surgeon, to be displayed in sideshows as the “Hottentot Venus.” This resulted in a scandal, since slavery had been outlawed in Britain, and eventually Sarah’s show moved to France. Scientists such as Cuvier were very keen to examine her, especially because of her unique anatomical features, but Baartmann refused. She eventually died alone as an impoverished prostitute in the streets of Paris in 1816. After her death, she was dissected by a French surgeon, and various of her body parts were on display in the Natural History Museum in Paris until 1949 and then at the Museum of Mankind in Paris until 1974.1
尽管对遥远地区的人类、植物和动物的研究吸引了大量公众和科学家的关注,但欧洲最重要的研究领域之一是地质学。地质学在帝国竞争下蓬勃发展,因为它与煤炭、铁和其他可开采矿产资源相关的工业发展息息相关。例如,英国开展了大型实地项目来了解、绘制和命名地层,帝国地质调查也在加拿大、澳大利亚、新西兰和印度进行。
Although the study of people, plants, and animals from far-off locations attracted a great deal of popular and scientific attention, one of the most important areas of research developing in Europe was geology. It flourished under imperial competition because of its link to industrial development associated with coal, iron, and other exploitable mineral resources. Britain, for example, embarked on major field projects to understand, map, and name the strata, and imperial geological surveys were undertaken in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India.
正如启蒙运动时期的欧洲一样,地质学家继续深入研究地质变化的历史。关于成因的争论——十八世纪的海王星论和火山论——转变为对变化速度和类型的更定量的讨论。这场争论中产生的两种思想流派——灾变论和均变论——依赖于地质构造是由突然或逐渐变化造成的这一观点。问题的关键在于:地球曾经更热吗?火山活动曾经更频繁吗?还是地球一直以现在的方式运转?赫顿曾说,现在起作用的力量解释了所有的地质变化,但到十九世纪末,他被贴上了危险激进分子的标签,大多数十九世纪早期的地质学家都不同意他的观点。直到 19 世纪 30 年代查尔斯·莱尔的著作,才有人再次提出现在起作用的力量是地球历史构造变化的原因这一观点。
Just as they had in Enlightenment Europe, geologists continued to delve into the history of geological change. The debate over causes – the Neptunism and Vulcanism of the eighteenth century – was transformed into a more quantitative discussion of the rate and type of change. The two schools of thought – Catastrophism and Uniformitarianism – that emerged from this debate relied on the idea of geological formations created by either sudden or gradual change. The crux of the problem was this: had the Earth once been hotter, had volcanic activity once been greater, or had the Earth always operated in the way it now did? Hutton had said that forces now in operation explained all geological change, but he had been labeled a dangerous radical by the end of the century, and most early nineteenth-century geologists disagreed with him. Not until Charles Lyell’s work in the 1830s did someone again bring forward the idea that forces currently in operation were responsible for changes in the Earth’s configuration historically.
乔治·居维叶(1769-1832)是灾变论者中最杰出的一位。他是巴黎新成立的国家自然历史博物馆的解剖学教授。作为一名公务员,他通过自己的职位和工作证明了法国在帝国竞争中的突出地位,即使在拿破仑被击败之后也是如此。除了地质学思想外,居维叶还研究了比较解剖学,他认为个体动物的各个部分必须协同工作,因此,动物各部分不可能进行任何可能的排列或组合。例如,长有食肉牙齿的动物必须有适合消化肉类的胃。他因能够从动物骨骼的一小部分重建整个动物而闻名。
Georges Cuvier (1769–1832) was the most prominent of the catastrophists. He was a professor of anatomy at the newly created National Museum of Natural History in Paris. As a state employee, through his position and work he demonstrated the prominence of France in imperial competition, even after Napoleon was defeated. In addition to his geological ideas Cuvier studied comparative anatomy, establishing that the parts of individual animals must work together and, therefore, that every conceivable permutation or combination of animal parts was not possible. For example, animals with carnivorous teeth had to have suitable stomachs for digesting meat. He became famous for his ability to reconstruct an entire animal from a relatively small part of its skeleton.
当居维叶收到来自巴拉圭的一些奇怪的化石时,他断定这些化石与现代树懒最为相似,尽管这些遗骸表明这是一种现已灭绝的巨型物种。他很快意识到,证明灭绝的唯一方法就是使用这种巨型遗骸,因为之前关于海洋化石的争论总是没有定论,因为海洋有可能尚未被探索的深海中可能仍生活着一些生物。居维叶研究了各种类似大象的遗骸,并利用比较解剖学,首先确定非洲象和印度象是不同的物种,其次,在美国俄亥俄河附近发现的遗骸表明是完全不同的物种。他称其为乳齿象,而将西伯利亚的另一个相关标本命名为猛犸象。(见图7.2。)最终,人们发现了这种西伯利亚物种的冰冻尸体,尸体上长满了羊毛,这表明它们不是远离自然栖息地的热带动物,因为它们显然是来自寒冷气候的生物。
When Cuvier was sent some odd fossils from Paraguay, he determined that these most closely resembled the modern sloth, although the remains suggested a giant and now extinct species. He quickly realized that the only way to prove extinction was by using this sort of giant remains, since earlier debates concerning marine fossils always remained inconclusive, given the possibility that the sea creatures might still be living in unexplored ocean depths. Cuvier looked at various elephant-like remains and, using comparative anatomy, established first that African and Indian elephants were different species and, second, that the remains found near the Ohio River in the United States indicated a different species altogether. He called this a mastodon, while he named a different but related specimen from Siberia a mammoth. (See figure 7.2.) Eventually, frozen carcasses of this Siberian species were found, complete with woolly coats, indicating that they were not tropical animals who had strayed far from their natural habitat, since they were clearly creatures from a cold climate.
7.2 1806 年居维叶乳齿象
7.2 CUVIER’S MASTODON FROM 1806
那么,居维叶问道,它们为什么会灭绝呢?在巴黎附近发现的大多数大型哺乳动物的遗骸,特别是古代河马和犀牛,都在砾石坑中。因此,他推断一定是发生了一场突然的“革命”,可能是一场洪水,导致它们死亡。他和他的研究员同事发现,当地的石膏采石场有七次渐进式洪水的证据,淡水和咸水化石交替出现,由此确定一定发生了一系列灾难。居维叶利用最近对阿尔卑斯山的研究,通过对地层柱的分析,表明它们一定是最近才出现的,这表明它们的出现可能是其中一场灾难的原因。然而,他强调,这些灾难是局部的,而不是普遍的,因此与圣经中的洪水无关。虽然他无法确定所有革命的原因,但他确信它们最终是可以知道的。
So, Cuvier asked, why had they died out? Most of the remains of giant mammals found near Paris, particularly ancient hippos and rhinos, were in gravel pits. Therefore, he reasoned that there must have been a sudden “revolution,” probably a flood, that had killed them. He and his fellow researchers discovered that the local gypsum quarries showed evidence of seven progressive floods, with alternations between freshwater and saltwater fossils, and from this determined that there must have been a series of catastrophes. Cuvier used recent work on the Alps, which demonstrated through an analysis of the strata column that they must be of recent origin, to suggest that their emergence might have been a cause of one of the catastrophes. He stressed, however, that these catastrophes were local, not universal, and therefore were not tied to the biblical flood. Although he could not identify the causes of all the revolutions, he was convinced that they were ultimately knowable.
居维叶强调了地球上生命历史的渐进性,灭绝也是其中的一部分。随着法国的居维叶和英国的威廉·史密斯(1769-1839)发现了更多的化石,他们发现砾石坑下的石膏层中存在着哺乳动物化石,这些哺乳动物与现存动物的差异甚至比河马和乳齿象更大。例如,居维叶发现了一种动物的遗骸,看起来像貘、猪和犀牛的混合体。第三纪岩石中的遗骸主要是哺乳动物,而次生岩中主要含有蜥蜴。事实上,居维叶发现了许多蜥蜴,它们占据着生态场景的不同部分:一种会飞的蜥蜴,他称之为“翼龙”;一种会游泳的蜥蜴,他称之为“鱼龙”;一种会走路的蜥蜴,他称之为“禽龙”。而在原生岩中,什么都没有。这是地球上从一种生命类型到另一种生命的明显演变。
Cuvier stressed the progressive aspect of the history of life on the planet, with extinction as part of the package. As more fossils were discovered, by Cuvier in France and William Smith (1769–1839) in Britain, they discovered that in the gypsum layer under the gravel pits were fossil mammals even more different from present animals than the hippos and mastodons had been. For example, Cuvier found the remains of an animal that looked like a combination of a tapir, pig, and rhino. The remains in the Tertiary rocks were largely mammals, while the Secondary rocks contained mostly lizards. In fact, Cuvier found a number of lizards occupying diverse parts of the ecological scene: a flying one, which he named “ptero-dactyle”; a swimming one, which he called “ichthyosaurus”; and a walking one, which he named “iguanodon.” And in the Primary rocks, nothing. Here was a clear progression from one sort of life on Earth to the next.
一些地质学家继续将更新世末期的灾难与圣经中的洪水联系起来,但大多数人跟随居维叶的脚步,忽略了这一宗教背景。他们转而关注生命形式经历了不同阶段的证据,而且似乎越来越有可能的是,造成大规模灭绝的力量一定比今天明显存在的力量强大得多,而且类型也不同。物理学家们研究热辐射理论,并开始争论地球最初要热得多,后来逐渐冷却下来,证实了这一点。
Some geologists continued to equate the catastrophe evident at the end of the Pleistocene Age with the biblical flood, but most followed Cuvier’s lead in ignoring this religious context. They concentrated instead on the evidence that life-forms had progressed through different stages, and it seemed more and more likely that the forces responsible for the mass extinctions must have been much more powerful and of a different kind than were evident today. This was confirmed by physicists who were looking at theories of heat radiation and who began to argue that the Earth had originally been much hotter and was gradually cooling down.
英国地质学家查尔斯·莱尔(Charles Lyell,1797-1875 年)不同意这种观点,即过去与现在不同,因此是不可知的。他寻求通过发展一种完全一致的理论来维护科学的合理性,并使科学家能够通过当前的观察来理解自然。在《地质学原理》(1830-3 年)这本三卷本的著作中,莱尔阐述了他的均变论,该著作的标题有意识地引用了牛顿的《自然哲学的数学原理》。他认为逐渐累积的地质变化可以解释物种的灭绝和化石记录中的进展。他利用自己对西西里岛埃特纳火山的研究以及乔治·普莱特·斯克罗普(George Poulett Scrope,1797-1876 年)对法国山脉和熔岩流逐渐形成山谷的研究,表明逐渐的地质变化与同一地区物种的逐渐灭绝相对应。他还认为,在上一次所谓的灾难中逃过灭绝的大型哺乳动物的发现,比如在更新世水位以上的泥炭沼泽中发现的巨型爱尔兰“麋鹿”,表明灾难并不是导致灭绝的唯一原因,也许灾难并没有发生。(见图7.3。)
English geologist Charles Lyell (1797–1875) disagreed with this idea that the past was of a different kind than the present and therefore unknowable. He sought to maintain the rationality of science by developing a theory that was totally consistent and that enabled scientists to understand nature through observation in the present. In Principles of Geology (1830–3), a three-volume work whose title consciously referred back to Newton’s Principia, Lyell expounded his theory of uniformitarianism. He argued that gradual cumulative geological change could account for extinction and the progress of species in the fossil record. He used his own research on Mount Etna in Sicily and the work of George Poulett Scrope (1797–1876) on the French mountains and the gradual creation of valleys through lava flow to show that gradual geological change corresponded to the gradual extinction of species in the same area. He also argued that the discovery of large mammals that had escaped extinction at the last supposed catastrophe, such as the giant Irish “elk” found in peat bogs above the Pleistocene level, showed that catastrophes were not the only cause of extinction and, perhaps, had not occurred. (See figure 7.3.)
7.3 1846 年爱尔兰麋鹿复原图
7.3 1846 RECONSTRUCTION OF AN IRISH ELK
这种已经灭绝的鹿有时被称为麋鹿,身高超过三米。
This extinct deer, sometimes called an elk, was over three meters tall.
莱尔的理论有三个不同的方面。第一,现实主义,认为现在起作用的这种力量创造了我们所看到的世界。这让人想起牛顿宣称现在起作用的力量具有普遍性,可以解释宇宙的结构。第二,均变论,认为过去也有与今天同等程度的力量在起作用。也就是说,莱尔驳斥了过去事物更热或更剧烈的说法。这两个公理的结果是第三个方面:世界处于稳定状态。正如赫顿之前所说,莱尔声称世界的变化没有进展,没有方向。然而,与赫顿不同,莱尔拥有一套更丰富的古生物学数据,因此他的立场比他的前任更难支持。莱尔被迫强调地质记录的不完善,并声称在未来的调查中可能会在其他层面发现恐龙。
Lyell’s theory had three separate facets. The first, actualism, stated that forces of the kind now in action had created the world as we see it. This was reminiscent of Newton’s claim for the universality of forces now in action to explain the structure of the universe. The second, uniformitarianism, established that forces of the same degree as today were at work in the past. That is, Lyell refuted the claim that things had been hotter or more violent in the past. The result of these two axioms was the third facet: that the world was in a steady state. Just as Hutton had said earlier, Lyell claimed that there was no progress, no direction, to the changes in the world. Unlike Hutton, however, Lyell had a much richer set of paleontological data, and therefore his was a much more difficult stance to support than it had been for his predecessor. Lyell was forced to stress the imperfection of the geological record and to claim that dinosaurs might be found at some other level in future investigations.
虽然莱尔理论的现实主义和均变论方面对地质学家和生物学家很有吸引力,但非进步主义立场却是少数人能够克服的障碍。莱尔必须为物种的稳定性辩护;也就是说,没有进化。但从居维叶开始,许多科学家的工作似乎无可辩驳。此外,莱尔似乎恢复了“系统”的概念,这一概念已被洪堡等人的工作所否定,他们更倾向于实地考察。
While the actualist and uniformitarian aspects of Lyell’s theory were very attractive to geologists and biologists, the non-progressionist stance was a hurdle few could overcome. Lyell had to argue for the stability of species; that is, that there had been no evolution. But the work of many scientists, from Cuvier on, seemed irrefutable. As well, Lyell seemed to have brought back the idea of a “system,” an idea that had been discredited by the work of people like Humboldt in favor of fieldwork.
尽管莱尔的方法存在问题,但他的工作却具有广泛的影响力,因为他将过去与现在进行比较的方法很有吸引力。这种方法足以理解自然,这一论点保证了科学不受哲学或宗教的影响。更重要的是,莱尔已经是科学界有影响力的成员。他在英国科学界广为人知,曾担任伦敦地质学会会员并最终担任会长,曾担任皇家学会会员和皇家勋章获得者,最后担任英国科学促进会 (BAAS) 会长。政治也支持莱尔的观点。均变论可以看作是支持保守政治,让工人阶级保持原有的地位,而不是灾变论,后者更符合法国人的观点,即通过革命可以实现社会和政治的改善。因此,莱尔的理论并没有打扰到查尔斯·达尔文等组成科学界的中产阶级绅士。相比之下,欧洲大陆的科学家继续遵循居维叶的理论,尤其是因为它得到了物理学家的支持。
Despite problems with his approach, Lyell’s work was widely influential because of the attraction of his methodology of comparing the past with the present. The argument that this methodology was sufficient to understand nature guaranteed the autonomy of science from philosophy or religion. More significantly, Lyell was already an influential member of the scientific community. He was well known in the British scientific establishment, as a member and eventually president of the Geological Society of London, as a fellow and Royal Medal winner of the Royal Society, and finally as president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS). Politics also favored Lyell’s views. Uniformitarianism could be seen as bolstering conservative politics, keeping working classes in their place, as opposed to catastrophism, which fit more with the French view of the possibility of social and political improvement through revolution. Therefore, Lyell’s theory did not disturb middle-class gentlemen, like Charles Darwin, who made up the scientific establishment. By contrast, on the continent scientists continued to follow Cuvier’s theory, especially since it had the backing of physicists.
当这些理论争论激烈进行时,大多数十九世纪的地质学家都花时间进行缓慢而稳定的实地考察,整理地质柱的地层。英国的罗德里克·I·默奇森(Roderick I. Murchison,1792-1871 年)和亚当·塞奇威克(Adam Sedgwick,1785-1873 年)等实地地质学家花了许多个夏天在乡村寻找暴露的地层。这项工作变得很复杂,因为特定的地层可能在一个地方重叠,在另一个地方下伏,而在第三个地方完全不存在。对各种地质层进行分类的竞争与政治和专业权力问题交织在一起,尤其是在相互竞争的命名法中。最后,这些地层以它们发现的英国郡县命名(威尔士为寒武纪,在威尔士边境附近与罗马人作战的英国部落为志留纪,德文郡为泥盆纪)。1831 年,默奇森在 BAAS 的首次会议上宣布他确定了志留纪系统。
While these large theoretical debates raged, most nineteenth-century geologists spent their time on slow, steady fieldwork, sorting out the stratigraphy of the geological column. Field geologists, such as Roderick I. Murchison (1792–1871) and Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873) in Britain, spent many summers tramping through the countryside looking for exposed strata. This work turned out to be complex, since specific layers could overlay at one place, underlay at another, and be completely absent at a third. The competition to classify the various geological layers became intertwined with issues of political and professional power, especially seen in competing nomenclatures. In the end the strata were named for the British counties in which they were found (Cambrian for Wales, Silurian for the British tribe who had fought the Romans near the Welsh border, and Devonian for Devon). Murchison announced his identification of the Silurian system at the inaugural meeting of the BAAS in 1831.
受帝国扩张和剥削推动的新地球科学产生的最令人困惑的问题之一是物种问题。新物种从何而来?它们似乎毫无预兆地出现在化石记录中,然后又迅速消失。是否有一系列新创造?这些物种是否仍存在于世界上未被发现的某个地方?(恐龙或大型哺乳动物似乎不太可能。)物种到底是什么?最早尝试回答这些问题的人之一是一位法国科学家,让-巴蒂斯特·德·莫奈·德·拉马克(1744-1829 年),他与布丰和后来的居维叶一起在国王花园工作。拉马克否认灭绝的可能性,而是认为一个物种通过进化变成了另一个物种。1809 年,他出版了《动物学哲学》,在书中他阐述了后来被称为拉马克主义的进化理论。对于拉马克来说,环境影响各种特征的发展,因此在进化变化中至关重要。当环境发生变化时,单个植物或动物内部的力量会促使其发生物理变化,以确保适应新条件。例如,如果长颈鹿的短颈祖先生活在一个所有可用食物都生长在高树顶端附近的环境中,那么这只长颈鹿的内在力量会随着时间的推移促使其脖子生长。当然,对拉马克的理论来说,最重要的是一代人获得的这些变化可以遗传给下一代;这通常被称为获得性特征的遗传。因此,这只伸长脖子的长颈鹿的后代出生时脖子会稍微长一点,下一代的脖子会更长,逐渐形成现在的长颈鹿。没有灭绝,因为早已消失的形式只是进化成了其他形式。拉马克以这种方式复活了“存在之链”,但没有其宗教含义,因为他认为每个物种都始于最原始的物种,而当今如此多不同物种的存在,是由最原始形式的一系列自然生成所解释的。(见图7.4。)
One of the most perplexing questions arising from the new earth sciences and spurred by imperial expansion and exploitation was that of species. Where did new species come from? They seemed to appear without prior warning in the fossil record and to disappear just as rapidly. Was there a series of new creations? Did those species still exist somewhere undetected in the world? (This seemed unlikely in the case of dinosaurs or large mammals.) And what were species in any case? One of the earliest attempts to answer some of these questions came from a French scientist, Jean-Baptiste de Monet de Lamarck (1744–1829), who worked at the Jardin du Roi, as did Buffon and later Cuvier. Lamarck denied the possibility of extinction, arguing instead that one species transformed into another through evolution. In 1809 he published Philosophie zoologique, in which he articulated the evolutionary theory that has come to be called Lamarckianism. For Lamarck, the environment influenced the development of various characteristics and, thus, was of prime importance in evolutionary change. When the environment changed, forces internal to the individual plant or animal encouraged physical changes to take place to ensure adaptation to the new conditions. For example, if a short-necked ancestor to a giraffe came to live in an environment where all available food grew close to the top of very high trees, the internal forces within that giraffe would encourage the growth of its neck over time. Most crucial for Lamarck’s theory, of course, was that these changes acquired in one generation could be inherited by the next; this was usually called the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Thus, the offspring of this stretching giraffe would be born with a slightly longer neck, the next generation with an even longer neck, and gradually the present-day giraffe would result. There was no extinction, since long-gone forms simply evolved into something else. Lamarck in this way resurrected the Great Chain of Being, without its religious connotations, since he argued that every species began at the most primitive, and the existence of so many different species today was accounted for by a series of spontaneous generations of the most primitive forms. (See figure 7.4.)
7.4拉马克理论
7.4 LAMARCK’S THEORY
生命始于“O”(原始),“A”、“B”、“C”、“D”和“E”是现在存在的生命形式,随着时间的推移发生了物理变化。
Life begins as “O” (original) and “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” and “E” are forms of life that exist in the present having undergone physical changes over time.
拉马克因这一理论而受到谩骂,尤其是他的敌人居维叶。虽然拉马克的理论说明了十九世纪初人们正在思考进化论,但他对这一领域的影响并不大。例如,查尔斯·达尔文几乎没有从他的思想中受益。然而,当二十世纪初许多著名的美国生物学家采纳该理论时,该理论就名声大噪,并被称为新拉马克主义。
Lamarck was reviled for this theory, especially by his enemy Cuvier. While Lamarck’s theory serves to illustrate the fact that people in the early nineteenth century were thinking about evolution, he had little immediate influence on the field. For example, Charles Darwin owed little to his ideas. However, the theory made its mark when many prominent American biologists in the early twentieth century adopted it and it became known as neo-Lamarckianism.
同样,查尔斯的祖父、月光学会成员伊拉斯谟·达尔文(1731-1802 年)和 19 世纪早期英国进化论拥护者罗伯特·钱伯斯(1802-71 年)也都证明了进化思维的普遍性,而非通向达尔文理论的某种线性路径。伊拉斯谟·达尔文的思想发表在长诗《动物学》(1794-6 年)中,源自启蒙运动后期的激进思想,并使他陷入危险的雅各宾派自由思想家的麻烦。钱伯斯于 1844 年匿名出版的《创世的痕迹》基于拉普拉斯对膨胀宇宙的观点,在公众中大受欢迎,但却遭到科学家们的嘲笑。钱伯斯被视为局外人,没有适当的专业地位,因此无权发表此类推测性言论。达尔文牢记这一教训,在发表任何“狂野”的理论之前努力建立自己的资质。
In a similar way, both Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802), Charles’s grandfather and member of the Lunar Society, and Robert Chambers (1802–71), who espoused evolutionary theories in early nineteenth-century Britain, demonstrate the prevalence of evolutionary thinking rather than serving as some linear path to Darwinian theory. Erasmus Darwin’s ideas, published in a long poem, Zoonomia (1794–6), emerged from the radical thinking of the late Enlightenment and got him into trouble as a dangerous Jacobin free-thinker. Chambers’s Vestiges of Creation, published anonymously in 1844, and based on a Laplacean view of an expanding universe, was wildly popular among the general public but ridiculed by scientists. Chambers was seen as an outsider, with no proper professional standing, and thus with no right to make such speculative claims. Darwin took this lesson to heart and worked to establish his credentials before publishing any “wild” theorizing.
查尔斯·达尔文(1809-82 年)出生于社会和知识界的科学精英阶层。他的父亲是一名富有的医生,母亲是月球学会的重要成员,母亲是英国伟大的工业家约西亚·韦奇伍德。后来,他娶了他的表妹,埃玛·韦奇伍德,从而巩固了他与英国制造业精英的联系。他先是在爱丁堡大学学习医学,但发现外科手术(在麻醉药还未普及的时代)太令人不安。他搬到剑桥,想成为英国国教的牧师。作为一名漠不关心的学生,他第一次对生物学和一生的事业产生兴趣,是在一个夏天与他的教授亚当·塞奇威克一起在英国进行地质之旅时。他迅速转向自然历史,并与植物学家约翰·史蒂文斯·亨斯洛 (1796-1861) 合作,建立了自己的甲虫收藏。1831 年,亨斯洛将这位热切而绅士的学生推荐给菲茨罗伊船长,担任博物学家和小猎犬号航行的同伴。如果达尔文不属于正确的绅士阶层,他永远不会被推荐或接受。
Charles Darwin (1809–82) was born into the ranks of the scientific elite, both socially and intellectually. He was the son of a rich doctor, the paternal grandson of an important member of the Lunar Society, and the maternal grandson of Josiah Wedgwood, the great British industrialist. Later, he married his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, thereby solidifying his tie to the British manufacturing elite. He first attended the University of Edinburgh studying medicine but found surgery (in an era before anesthesia was common) too disturbing. He moved to Cambridge with the idea he would become a minister in the Church of England. An indifferent student, he first developed his enthusiasm for biology, and his life’s work, when he spent one summer on a geology tour of Britain with his professor, Adam Sedgwick. He turned with alacrity to natural history and worked with botanist John Stevens Henslow (1796–1861), establishing his own collection of beetles. In 1831 Henslow recommended this eager and gentlemanly student to Captain FitzRoy as a naturalist and companion on the voyage of the HMS Beagle. Darwin would never have been recommended, or accepted, had he not belonged to the correct gentlemanly class.
7.5达尔文乘坐贝格尔号航行( 1831-1836 年)
7.5 DARWIN’S VOYAGE ON THE HMS BEAGLE (1831–1836)
小猎犬号的航行(1831-6 年)改变了达尔文的一生。登船时,亨斯洛递给他查尔斯·莱尔的《地质学原理》第一卷,这本书使他相信,今天起作用的力量是过去所有变化的原因。他接受均变论和现实主义,尽管他从不相信莱尔的稳态假说。达尔文一直认为自然变化是有方向性的。当他在智利康塞普西翁经历地震时,他确信今天起作用的力量可能非常强大,颠覆性的。他遇到了大量新的美丽物种,包括巨型犰狳的化石;在厄瓜多尔海岸外的加拉帕戈斯群岛,他注意到不同岛屿的陆龟和雀类种类不同(尽管直到后来在伦敦的博物馆里他才真正明白它们的分类或意义)。
The voyage of the Beagle (1831–6) changed Darwin’s life. As he boarded the ship, Henslow handed him the first volume of Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology, a book that convinced him that forces in action today were responsible for all the changes of the past. He accepted uniformitarianism and actualism, although he never believed in Lyell’s steady-state hypothesis. Darwin always saw natural change as directional. When he experienced an earthquake in Concepción, Chile, he was convinced that forces in action today could be very powerful and disruptive. He encountered a plethora of new and beautiful species, including fossils of the giant armadillo; on the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Ecuador, he noticed that the species of tortoises and finches differed from island to island (although he did not really understand their classification or significance until later, in museum settings in London).
达尔文满载新想法归来,并很快通过发表论文确立了自己在科学界的地位,先是地质学,后来是生物学。他的第一篇科学论文提出了他的珊瑚礁形成理论,该理论遵循莱尔的均变论,并声称珊瑚礁是在海底岛屿形成时形成的。由于大多数珊瑚只能生活在靠近海洋表面的地方,它们会不断地在水下岩石上分层生长,形成珊瑚礁。这一优雅的解释确立了达尔文在皇家地质学会的声誉。
Darwin returned full of new ideas and soon established himself as part of the scientific profession through his published papers, first in geology and later in biology. His first scientific paper presented his theory of coral-reef formation, which followed Lyell’s uniformitarianism and claimed that coral reefs were formed as an oceanic island submerged. Since most coral can only live close to the surface of the ocean, it would constantly grow on top of the submerging rock in layers to form a reef. This elegant explanation established Darwin’s credentials with the Royal Geological Society.
达尔文开始记下一系列笔记,他从中思索物种之间的关系——事实上,他思考的是物种到底是什么。1838 年,他读了托马斯·马尔萨斯的《人口原理》(1798 年),进化的机制突然变得清晰起来。马尔萨斯认为,食物供应最多只能以算术级数增加(1、2、3、4、5……),但人口将以几何级数增加(1、2、4、8、16……),最终的结论是资源的生死竞争。马尔萨斯提出这一理论是为了解释他所看到的英国即将出现的人口危机,而达尔文则立即看到了它对植物和动物世界的应用。
Darwin began to keep a series of notebooks in which he puzzled over the relationship of species to each other – in fact, the whole question of just what a species was. In 1838 he read An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) by Thomas Malthus, and the mechanism for evolution suddenly appeared clear. Malthus had argued that food supply would at best increase arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 …) but that the population would increase geometrically (1, 2, 4, 8, 16 …) with the ultimate conclusion a life-and-death competition for resources. While Malthus had developed this theory in order to explain the population crisis he saw looming in Britain, Darwin immediately saw its application to the plant and animal world.
达尔文的理论是在 1842 年至 1844 年间提出的,通常被称为自然选择进化论。他从进化确实发生的前提出发;他的南美之行使他确信了这一点。那么进化是如何发生的呢?首先,他认为,个体种群中存在变异。你可以通过观察家畜(例如他饲养的鸽子)来看到这一点。这些变异是随机的、连续的和微小的。其次,某些变异在特定环境中是有利的,大自然选择了这些变异——这被称为自然选择。由于马尔萨斯已经表明,出生的个体中只有极小的一部分能够存活下来,因此一定存在一些个体存活下来而其他个体没有存活下来的原因。不知何故,它们的变异使它们比种群中的其他人更有利于生存。例如,有些鸟生来就有更尖的喙,这使它们能够钻洞寻找昆虫;这是一种适应性特征,在有许多钻洞昆虫而其他食物稀缺的环境中。这种变异被传递下来直到越来越多的鸟类具有这种特征性的尖喙,而钝喙鸟类则被取代或灭绝。
Darwin’s theory, worked out between 1842 and 1844, is often called the theory of evolution by natural selection. He began from the premise that evolution had indeed taken place; his trip to South America had convinced him of this. So how had it happened? First, he argued, variation existed within a population of individuals. You can see this by observing domestic animals, such as the pigeons he bred. These variations were random, continuous, and small. Second, certain variations turned out to be advantageous in particular environments, and nature selected those variations – this is called natural selection. Since Malthus had shown that only a tiny fraction of the number of individuals born survive, there had to be some reason why some survived and others did not. Somehow, their variation equipped them better for survival than others in the population. For example, some birds were born with sharper beaks, which allowed them to burrow for insects; this was an adaptive characteristic in an environment where there were many burrowing insects and other food was scarce. This variation was passed on to the next generation, until more and more birds had this characteristic sharp beak and blunt-beaked birds were replaced or became extinct.
达尔文描述了物种内部的斗争,其中特定物种中的每个个体都与同一物种的其他个体竞争稀缺资源。其他潜在危险物种只是构成了变异发生的环境。正如阿尔弗雷德·丁尼生勋爵所说,大自然是“凶残的”,因为每一天都存在着一场生存竞争,胜利就是一切。没有第二次机会,没有回头路,因为一旦灭绝,就永远消失了。结果就是分支进化,共同祖先可能会产生许多不同的物种,因为不同的变异填补了不同的生态位。(见图7.6。)达尔文通过包括时间来回答物种定义的问题,因为林奈设想的物种图现在是持续过程的时间快照,而密切相关的物种、属等之间的联系源于它们早期的共同祖先。
Darwin described an intraspecies struggle in which each individual in a specific species competed with other individuals in that same species for scarce resources. Other potentially dangerous species simply constituted the environment in which variation occurred. Nature was “red in tooth and claw,” as Alfred, Lord Tennyson, put it,2 because each day presented a competitive struggle for existence in which winning was everything. There was no second chance, no going back, because once you were extinct, you were gone forever. The result was branching evolution, where a common ancestor might give rise to numerous different species as different variations filled different ecological niches. (See figure 7.6.) Darwin answered the question of the definition of species by including time, since the map of species, as envisaged by Linnaeus, was now a snapshot in time of a continuing process, and the connections between closely related species, genera, and so on were due to their earlier common ancestry.
7.6达尔文系统
7.6 DARWIN’S SYSTEM
达尔文系统从初始形式开始,然后随着时间的推移产生相关变体。一些变体可能会灭绝并从系统中消失。
Darwin’s system starts with an initial form that then produces related variants over time. Some variants may go extinct and are lost from the system.
这种斗争和竞争理论与达尔文周围国家冲突中所见的资本主义和帝国主义争夺资源的斗争非常相似。他受到早期进化论和地质学讨论的影响,但他也是一位富裕的重商主义家庭的成员,生活在一个工业化繁荣的国家,并与其他欧洲国家进行着大规模的扩张主义竞争。他的理论是特定时间和地点的产物,同时也是一位科学家的灵感。
This theory of struggle and competition corresponded very closely to the capitalist and imperialist struggle for resources seen in the clash of nations taking place around Darwin. He was influenced by earlier discussions of evolution and geology, but he was also a member of a rich mercantilist family, living in a nation prospering from industrialism and in major expansionist competition with other European nations. His theory was a product of a particular time and place, as much as it was the inspiration of one scientist.
尽管达尔文在 1844 年就以 230 页的“论文”形式写下了进化论,但他并未采取行动发表。他可能害怕像钱伯斯那样遭到嘲笑。他还努力在英国同行中树立自己的科学家声誉。在此期间,他进行了一项关于藤壶的大规模研究项目,该项目与他早期的珊瑚礁理论一起,为他赢得了同行科学家的极大尊重。然而,1858 年,另一位博物学家阿尔弗雷德拉塞尔·华莱士 (1823-1913) 在写给达尔文的信中宣布,他已经发展出一种自然选择的进化理论,从而迫使达尔文采取行动。达尔文向莱尔寻求建议,莱尔顺从地推迟发表华莱士的论文,直到达尔文迅速写出自己的论文,以便林奈学会能够宣读联合论文。不到一年,达尔文在《物种起源》 (1859) 中完整阐述了他的理论。
Although Darwin wrote his theory of evolution by 1844 in a 230-page “Essay,” he took no steps to publish. He may have feared the kind of ridicule that Chambers endured. He was also struggling to establish his credentials as a scientist among his peers in Britain. He spent the intervening years conducting a massive research project on barnacles, which, with his earlier coral-reef theory, garnered him much respect among his fellow scientists. In 1858, however, another naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913), announced in a letter to Darwin that he had developed a theory of evolution by natural selection and thus forced Darwin’s hand. Darwin asked Lyell for advice, and Lyell obligingly delayed publishing Wallace’s paper until Darwin had quickly written a paper of his own, so that a joint paper could be read before the Linnaean Society. Within a year, Darwin wrote a full statement of his theory in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859).
华莱士和达尔文所走的道路有很多相似之处。两人都曾进行过收集之旅,两人都先是受到莱尔的启发,然后又受到马尔萨斯的启发,两人都对物种分布感兴趣,也就是说,他们想知道为什么物种在地理上最接近其亲缘关系。此外,两人都参与了帝国计划,达尔文是工业绅士阶层的一员,而华莱士是一名有偿收藏家,曾前往亚马逊地区后来又扩展到马来群岛。因此,两人都发展了自然选择进化论,这也许并不完全令人惊讶。华莱士一直声称他的理论不太成熟,当他写出关于这个主题的完整著作时,他称之为达尔文主义(1889 年)。但他们在科学和社会上的地位不同,也解释了这种声誉的差异。无论好坏,这一理论自那以后一直被称为达尔文进化论。
There were a number of similarities in the paths Wallace and Darwin took. Both had traveled on collecting voyages, both had been inspired first by Lyell and then by Malthus, and both were interested in the distribution of species, that is, the question of why species occur geographically nearest to their closest relations. Moreover, both were involved in the imperial project, Darwin as a member of the industrial gentlemanly class, and Wallace as a paid collector, traveling to Amazonia and later to the Malay Archipelago. So perhaps it is not altogether surprising that both developed parallel theories on evolution by natural selection. Wallace always claimed that his was the less well-developed theory, and when he wrote his complete book on the subject, he called it Darwinism (1889). But the difference in their status, both scientifically and socially, also accounts for this difference in reputation. For good or ill, this theory has ever since been called Darwinian evolution.
达尔文的理论引起了受过教育的英国人的共鸣,因为在很多方面,它与已经阐明的社会理论相呼应。自然选择与赫伯特·斯宾塞 (1820-1903) 的思想特别契合,成为社会成长和发展的主要解释。广受欢迎的社会达尔文主义一方面证实了进步的信念,另一方面证实了操纵自然和社会实现这种进步的必要性。这一系列理论告诉人们,进化无论是否被期望,都会发生,因此,一旦文明人意识到这一点,他们就有义务将这种进化力量用于善事。
Darwin’s theory struck a chord with educated Britons because, in many ways, it corresponded to social theories that had already been articulated. Evolution by natural selection fit especially well with Herbert Spencer’s (1820–1903) ideas and become a major explanation for social growth and development. Widely popular, social Darwinism justified the belief in progress on one hand and the need to manipulate nature and society to achieve this progress on the other. This collection of theories taught people that evolution happened whether it was desired or not and, therefore, that civilized people were obligated, once conscious of it, to use this evolutionary force for good.
赫伯特·斯宾塞生来是贵格会教徒,早年当过铁路工程师,之后成为《经济学人》的作家和副编辑。他继承了一小笔遗产,得以将一生献给研究和写作,尤其是有关人类状况的研究和写作。在《社会静力学》(1851 年)和《心理学原理》(1855 年)等书中,斯宾塞认为人类社会的发展可以用从最简单(土著部落)到最复杂(欧洲帝国主义国家)的进化来解释。与达尔文一样,斯宾塞受到马尔萨斯的影响,认为生活是一场只有强者才能生存的斗争。他创造了“适者生存”这个词来解释这一现象。他认为,为了确保社会最强大和最好,最好将国家控制保持在最低限度。然而,斯宾塞并不支持完全的个人主义道德,而是坚持认为强大的社区建立在对个人利益的自然统一性的理解之上。因此,适者生存是人类经济和社会进步的关键。这些理论在应用于种族问题时,被用来作为种族隔离(防止弱势种族与强势种族混合)和征服(强者有道德和自然的义务去控制弱者)的正当理由。
Herbert Spencer was a Quaker by birth, and after an early career as a railway engineer, he worked as a writer and sub-editor for The Economist. A small inheritance allowed him to devote his life to studying and writing, especially about the human condition. In such books as Social Statics (1851) and Principles of Psychology (1855), Spencer argued that the development of human societies could be explained as an evolution from simplest (native tribes) to most complex (European imperialist states). Like Darwin, Spencer was influenced by Malthus and saw life as a struggle in which only the strong tended to survive. He coined the phrase “survival of the fittest” to explain this phenomenon. To ensure the strongest and best society, he argued that it was desirable to keep state control to a minimum. Spencer did not support a completely individualistic morality, however, but maintained that strong communities were based on understanding the natural unity of interests of individuals. Survival of the fittest was thus key to the economic and social progress of mankind. These theories, when applied to race, were used as a justification for segregation (to keep the weaker races from mixing with the stronger) and subjugation (the strong had a moral and natural imperative to control the weak).
斯宾塞主义和社会达尔文主义为资本主义、自由放任经济和反对福利国家提供了依据。美国实业家安德鲁·卡内基是斯宾塞最大的粉丝之一,这一点并不令人意外。
Spencerianism and forms of social Darwinism provided justifications for capitalism, laissez-faire economics, and arguments against a welfare state. It should come as no surprise that one of Spencer’s biggest fans was the American industrialist Andrew Carnegie.
其他形式的社会达尔文主义强调种族或国家之间的斗争,从而为欧洲发生的军事和工业竞争辩护。这些理论家认为,战争是淘汰劣等国家的一种方式。“强权即公理”为帝国主义提供了正当理由,因为根据其基本原理,劣等种族应该受到剥削和控制。社会达尔文主义在优生学中也有个人体现,其支持者将其描述为种族科学。优生学家声称,国家有责任限制最不适合的公民的繁衍,并鼓励最适合的公民繁衍。这一观点的早期支持者是弗朗西斯·高尔顿(1822-1911),他是查尔斯·达尔文, 1869 年撰写了《遗传天才》 。
Other forms of social Darwinism stressed the struggle between races or nations, thus justifying the military and industrial competition taking place in Europe. These theorists believed that war was a way of winnowing out inferior nations. “Might is right” provided a justification for imperialism, since, according to its rationale, inferior races deserved to be exploited and controlled. Social Darwinism also had an individual expression in eugenics, which was presented by its proponents as the science of race. Eugenists claimed that the state had a duty to limit the multiplication of its least-fit citizens and to encourage its most fit to increase. An early proponent of this was Francis Galton (1822–1911), a cousin of Charles Darwin, who wrote Hereditary Genius in 1869.
达尔文在《物种起源》中没有提到人类,尽管他当然知道他的理论可以如此应用。在 1860 年的 BAAS 会议上,达尔文的理论因此遭到主教塞缪尔·威伯福斯 (Samuel Wilberforce)(媒体上称他为“索皮·萨姆”)的攻击,而“达尔文的斗牛犬”托马斯·亨利·赫胥黎 (Thomas Henry Huxley, 1825-95) 则为他的理论辩护,他回答说,他宁愿自己是猿猴的后代,也不愿自己是利用智力阻碍科学发展的聪明人的后代!达尔文后来加入战局,出版了《人类的由来》 (1871),在书中,他试图证明智力和道德的进化也是通过自然选择实现的,因此,人类的进化方式与动物相同。这本书缺乏他早期著作的严谨性,但却开辟了一条有趣的研究途径,人们通过观察他们的伴侣动物来寻找智力和幽默的迹象。华莱士反对将人类贬低为动物,并在生命的最后几年里研究了维多利亚时代流行的唯灵论,寻找将人类与野兽区分开来并在死后依然存在的神圣火花。
Darwin had not mentioned human beings in Origin of Species, although he was certainly aware that his theory could be so applied. At the 1860 meeting of the BAAS, Darwin’s theories were attacked on this basis by Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, known as “Soapy Sam” in the press, and defended by “Darwin’s Bulldog,” Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95), who replied that he would rather be descended from an ape than from an intelligent man who used his intellect to retard the growth of science! Darwin later entered the fray with the publication of The Descent of Man (1871), in which he set out to prove that evolution of intelligence and morality were also possible through natural selection and, therefore, that humans had evolved in the same way as had animals. This book lacked the rigor of his earlier work but produced a curious research avenue in which people examined their companion animals for signs of intelligence and humor. Wallace objected to this demotion of humans to animals and spent the last years of his life investigating spiritualism, a popular Victorian pursuit, in search of the divine spark that separated humankind from the beasts and that remained even after death.
7.7人类的谱系
7.7 PEDIGREE OF MAN
基于以人类为中心的达尔文进化论解释的“家谱”。该图谱将人类视为进化的最终产物。
A “family tree” based on an anthropocentric interpretation of Darwin’s theory of evolution. This schema presents humans as the ultimate product of evolution.
尽管达尔文的书籍和理论非常受欢迎—— 《物种起源》首次印刷后几天内就销售一空——但他的自然选择进化论在 20 世纪之前并没有赢得生物学界的青睐。他当然也有他的同代支持者,尤其是英国的赫胥黎和阿萨Gray (1810–88) 在美国提出了这一理论。博物学家们对他的理论非常赞同,因为它既解释了分类为何有效,也解释了物种地理分布的来源。例如,博物学家 Henry Walter Bates 认为,自然选择可以在英格兰中部地区的蛾子身上看到。在英格兰中部地区工业化之前,蛾子主要呈浅色,以便与树皮融合并躲避捕食者。由于污染,树木颜色变深,深色蛾子获得了伪装优势并大量繁殖,成为主要形式。Bates 还提出了达尔文对拟态的解释,拟态是指无害昆虫看起来像有毒物种的样本的现象。正如 Bates 指出的那样,看起来难吃的昆虫更有可能存活下来,因此这种颜色可能是为生存而选择的变异。
Although Darwin’s books and theories were extremely popular – Origin sold out within days of the first printing – his theory of evolution by natural selection did not win over the biological community before the twentieth century. He certainly had his contemporary supporters, especially Huxley in Britain and Asa Gray (1810–88) in the United States. Naturalists were very favorably disposed to his theory, since it explained both why classification worked and the source of geographical distribution of species. Naturalist Henry Walter Bates, for example, argued that natural selection could be seen in the Midlands moth. Prior to the industrialization of the Midlands, the moths were predominantly light-colored to blend with tree bark and hide from predators. Due to pollution, trees had become darker, and dark moths gained camouflage advantage and multiplied, becoming the dominant form. Bates also put forward a Darwinian explanation of mimicry, the phenomenon of a harmless insect looking like a specimen of a poisonous species. As Bates pointed out, an insect that looked unpalatable was more likely to survive, and so such coloring could be a variation selected for survival.
大多数博物学家,尤其是英国博物学家,对进化论不太感兴趣,对收藏更感兴趣。自然历史收藏狂潮已经蔓延,鼓励男性,尤其是越来越多的女性,踏上寻找稀有植物、动物、昆虫和化石的土地。中上阶层的收藏家付钱给其他人,比如华莱士和贝茨,让他们到异国他乡带回标本。许多业余收藏家深受自然神学的影响,威廉·佩利(William Paley,1743-1805)最清楚地阐述了这一学说。佩利认为,如果一个人在树林里散步时发现了一块手表,即使他不知道它是什么或它是如何工作的,他也会知道它是由某种智慧,也就是钟表匠制作的。那么,比手表构造更复杂的自然世界一定是由伟大的钟表匠打造的,这一点就更加清楚了。这个论点被称为设计论,是一个强有力的论点,后来被《布里奇沃特论文集》的作者们所采纳。这一系列书籍由布里奇沃特伯爵弗朗西斯·亨利·埃格顿的遗赠委托撰写,试图将科学的各个方面与上帝存在和神圣计划的证明联系起来,威廉·惠威尔撰写了天文学和物理学论文,威廉·巴克兰撰写了地质学论文。达尔文本人小心翼翼地避免与这种设计理念相矛盾,尽管他的许多批评者认为他的体系的核心是无神论,因为它似乎不需要最终计划来创造人类。
Most naturalists, especially in Britain, were less concerned with evolutionary theory and more interested in collecting. A natural history collecting mania had taken hold, encouraging men, and increasingly women, to tramp the land in search of rare plants, animals, insects, and fossils. Middle- and upper-class collectors paid others, like Wallace and Bates, to travel to exotic locations and bring back specimens. Many of these amateur collectors were deeply influenced by natural theology, a doctrine articulated most clearly by William Paley (1743–1805). Paley argued that if a man were walking in the woods and found a watch, even if he had no idea what it was or how it worked, he would know that it had been made by some intelligence, that is, by the watchmaker. How much clearer it was, then, that the natural world, more intricately constructed than the watch, must have been fashioned by the Great Watchmaker. This argument, called the argument from design, was a potent one, which was later taken up by the authors of the Bridgewater Treatises. This series of books, commissioned by a bequest from Francis Henry Egerton, Earl of Bridgewater, attempted to link various aspects of science to a proof of God’s existence and a divine plan, with William Whewell writing the treatise on astronomy and physics and William Buckland the one on geology. Darwin himself was careful not to contradict this idea of design, although many of his detractors saw atheism in the heart of his system, since it seemed to require no final plan to create humans.
虽然进化论作为基本前提在科学界逐渐获得拥护者,但达尔文的理论也引发了疑问。上帝怎么能创造出如此如此暴力、如此浪费,与自然神学家设想的宏伟计划如此不同?人类物种真的是从猿类进化而来的,而不是按照上帝的形象创造的吗?如果达尔文是正确的,那是否意味着《圣经》的部分内容是错误的?
While evolution as a basic premise steadily gained adherents in the scientific world, Darwin’s theory did raise questions. How could God create a world that was so violent, so wasteful, and so unlike the grand design envisaged by the natural theologians? Could the human species really be descended from apes and not created in God’s image? If Darwin was right, did that mean parts of the Bible were wrong?
对于生物学家和其他科学家来说,其他紧迫问题也未得到解决。化石记录似乎不包含任何渐进的进化形式,而且达尔文理论预测的许多“缺失环节”或未发现的中间形式。当今的变化似乎太小,无法产生化石记录规模的进化变化。更令人震惊的是,社会上有权有势、有影响力的物理学家威廉·汤姆森(1824-1907 年),拉格斯的开尔文男爵或更简单的开尔文勋爵,认为地球的年龄一定在 2000 万至 4 亿年之间,对于达尔文的渐进进化来说,这个时间太短了。
For biologists and other scientists, other pressing issues were also unresolved. The fossil record did not seem to contain any gradual evolutionary forms, and there were many “missing links,” or unfound intermediate forms, predicted by Darwin’s theory. Present-day variations seemed too small to have created evolutionary change of the magnitude of the fossil record. More damning, the socially powerful and influential physicist William Thomson (1824–1907), Baron Kelvin of Largs or more simply Lord Kelvin, suggested that the age of the planet must be between 20 million and 400 million years, too short a time for Darwinian gradual evolution.
汤姆森是个神童,十岁就被格拉斯哥大学录取,后来又去了剑桥大学完成学业。1846 年,他被任命为格拉斯哥大学自然哲学教授,一直担任该职位直到 1895 年退休。他在电磁学方面做出了开创性的工作,并帮助铺设了第一条大西洋电报电缆。由于他的工作,他于 1866 年被授予爵士称号,并于 1892 年被授予贵族称号。他还在 1890 年至 1895 年期间担任皇家学会会长。开尔文勋爵根据地球的温度和地球从熔融状态冷却的速度得出了地球年龄的结论,他认为地球的年龄约为 5000 万年。这一计算来自他的热力学工作,特别是他的《热的动力学理论》(1851 年),他在其中引入了绝对(或开尔文)温标,将分子运动停止的理论点设为零。按照这个绝对尺度,水在 273.16°K 时融化。假设这颗行星沿着从熔融到太空温度的热谱移动(即它是一块仅由太阳能加热的岩石),就可以计算出地球上生命存在的时间。达尔文进化论的问题是,5000 万年虽然很长,但与一些科学家认为进化产生现在生命所需的 200 亿年相差甚远。
Thomson was a prodigy, accepted into the University of Glasgow at the age of ten, then moving to Cambridge to complete his education. He was made professor of natural philosophy at the University of Glasgow in 1846, holding that position until his retirement in 1895. He did groundbreaking work on electricity and magnetism and helped to lay the first Atlantic telegraph cable. For his work, he was knighted in 1866 and made a peer of the realm in 1892. He was also president of the Royal Society from 1890 to 1895. Lord Kelvin, basing his conclusions about the age of the Earth on its temperature and on the rate of cooling of the planet from a molten state, argued that its age was about 50 million years. This calculation came from his work on thermodynamics, particularly his On the Dynamical Theory of Heat (1851), in which he introduced the absolute (or Kelvin) scale of temperature, setting zero at the theoretical point at which molecular motion stopped. On this absolute scale, water melts at 273.16°K. Assuming that the planet was moving along a heat spectrum from molten to the temperature of space (i.e., it is a rock heated only by the energy of the Sun), the time that life could have existed on Earth could be calculated. The problem for Darwinian evolution was that 50 million years, while a very long time, was a far cry from the 20,000 million years that some scientists had suggested were necessary for evolution to produce life as it now existed.
最后,人们对变异或遗传特征的生物学机制提出了质疑。达尔文对生殖机制的推测并没有得到很好的接受。再加上其他反对意见,许多科学家不愿接受他的解释。到 1900 年,虽然进化论已成为每个生物学家的信条,但这种机制比以往任何时候都更加令人怀疑。
Finally, there were questions about the biological mechanism by which variations or inherited characteristics were passed on. Darwin’s speculation on the mechanics of reproduction were not well received. Combined with other objections, many scientists were reluctant to accept his explanation. By 1900, while evolution was part of every biologist’s credo, the mechanism was more in doubt than ever.
毫不奇怪,达尔文理论诞生的时代也是夏洛克·福尔摩斯诞生的时代,他是阿瑟·柯南·道尔笔下的冷静、科学、逻辑性极强的私家侦探。科学家们,即使他们继续争论细节,似乎也在揭示大自然的一切,似乎有可能创造出一种物理世界如何运作的完整画面。有了这样的知识,任何秘密都无法对观察者保密。达尔文和夏洛克·福尔摩斯也一样,都是业余爱好者,而不是受过专业训练和雇佣。虽然福尔摩斯隐喻性地催生了一代又一代的私人侦探,但达尔文,尽管他才华横溢、富有洞察力,却代表着科学风格的衰落。他是最后一位伟大的业余绅士科学家。对于科学作为一种职业来说,十九世纪是一个转折点。科学越来越受到重视。科学家越来越意识到科学是一种专业活动,随之而来的是,自然研究作为哲学的一个分支逐渐分离出来。这是由于越来越多的专业科学组织的出现以及致力于科学的教育和研究的新机构的发展所推动的。虽然德国学者可能更早使用过“科学家”一词,但它是 19 世纪的产物,由威廉·惠威尔 (William Whewell,1794-1866) 在 1833 年的 BAAS 会议上向众多听众介绍。
It is not surprising that the era that shaped Darwinian theory was also the era that produced Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s cool, scientific, and supremely logical private detective. Scientists, even if they continued to argue the fine details, seemed to be revealing all of nature, and it seemed possible to create a complete picture of how the physical world operated. With such knowledge, no secret could be kept from the observant mind. Darwin and Sherlock Holmes were also alike in being amateurs rather than professionally trained and employed. While Holmes gave metaphorical birth to generations of private detectives, Darwin, as gifted and insightful as he was, represented the waning of a scientific style. He was the last of the great amateur gentleman scientists. For science as an occupation, the nineteenth century was a turning point. There was an increasing sense of science as a professional activity, and with this came a growing separation of the study of nature as a branch of philosophy. This was spurred by the appearance of more and increasingly specialized scientific organizations and the development of new institutions in education and research dedicated to science. While it may have been used by German academics earlier, the term “scientist” was a product of the nineteenth century, introduced by William Whewell (1794–1866) to a large audience at a meeting of the BAAS in 1833.
拿破仑统治时期为科学职业的扩展提供了良好的起点。尽管拿破仑对科学的实际支持有些变化(例如,当他逃离英国人时,他抛弃了埃及的一些科学家),但他确实培养了人们对技术知识重要性的认识。法国科学院于 1793 年革命期间解散,但它于 1795 年作为法国国立研究院的一部分重新出现。除了科学院之外,拿破仑还于 1805 年批准成立阿尔克伊学会,其成员包括克劳德·贝托莱、皮埃尔-西蒙·拉普拉斯和亚历山大·冯·洪堡等著名思想家。
The reign of Napoleon offers a good starting point for the expansion of science as a profession. Although Napoleon’s actual support for science was somewhat variable (for example, he abandoned a number of scientists in Egypt when he escaped the British there), he did foster a sense of the importance of technical knowledge. The Académie des Sciences was disbanded in 1793 during the Revolution, but it re-emerged in 1795 as part of the Institut National. In addition to the Académie Napoleon approved the foundation of the Société d’Arcueil in 1805, which had as members such leading thinkers as Claude Berthollet, Pierre-Simon Laplace, and Alexander von Humboldt.
比阿尔克伊学院更重要的是,巴黎综合理工学院转变为当时领先的科学和工程学院。该学院最初由国民公会于 1794 年成立,名为“中央公共工程学院”,1795 年更名,并于 1802 年吸收了州立炮兵学校。该学院最初隶属于内政部,1804 年拿破仑将其改造成精英军事学校,与军队的联系得以完成。炮兵一直是军队中智力要求最高的部门,需要广泛了解数学、物理、化学以及我们所谓的材料科学的元素。同时,炮兵并不沉浸于古老的传统,它提供了一条不完全由社会地位决定的军事指挥之路。它吸引了许多出身低微的聪明年轻人,包括拿破仑,他于 1785 年被任命为炮兵军官。
More important than the Société d’Arcueil was the transformation of the École Polytechnique into the leading scientific and engineering school of the era. Originally founded as the École centrale des travaux publics in 1794 by the National Convention, it changed its name in 1795 and absorbed the state artillery school in 1802. First under the Ministry of the Interior, the connection with the military was completed in 1804 when Napoleon transformed it into an elite military school. The artillery had always been the most intellectual branch of the military, requiring a broad understanding of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and elements of what we would call materials science. At the same time, the artillery was not steeped in ancient traditions and offered a path to military command that was not determined solely by social rank. It had attracted many bright young men of lower birth, including Napoleon, who was commissioned as an artillery officer in 1785.
巴黎综合理工学院由三人创办:拉扎尔·卡诺(1753-1823 年),他组织了共和军并撰写了关于防御工事科学的文章;加斯帕德·蒙日(1746-1818 年),数学家和物理学家,他在画法几何方面的工作为建筑和工程制图奠定了基础;阿德里安·马里·勒让德(1752-1833 年),数学家,从事数论研究。数学、化学和物理是核心科目,这些内容通常非常先进,以至于有人抱怨巴黎综合理工学院过于理论化,不适合作为军事学校。然而,它的声誉如此之高,以至于它在整个世纪都继续运作如今,该校仍是法国领先的教育机构之一。200多年来,它培养了大批专业工程师和科学家。
The École Polytechnique was founded by three men: Lazare Carnot (1753–1823), who organized the Republican armies and wrote on the science of fortification; Gaspard Monge (1746–1818), a mathematician and physicist, whose work on descriptive geometry laid the foundation for architectural and engineering drawing; and Adrien Marie Legendre (1752–1833), a mathematician who worked on number theory. Mathematics, chemistry, and physics were core subjects, and the material was often so advanced that there were complaints that the École Polytechnique was too theoretical to be useful as a military school. Yet its reputation was so great that it continued to function throughout the century and continues as one of France’s leading educational institutions today. It has produced a stream of professional engineers and scientists for more than 200 years.
拿破仑统治时期最大的悖论是,他结束了共和国,未能征服欧洲,但却让欧洲大陆走上了一条道路,这条道路带来了其他国家与他开战以击败的改革。除了一个世纪前经历过类似改革的英国之外,战争迫使许多欧洲国家经历了重大的经济和社会变革。农业经济和受限制的中产阶级无法提供物质资源来对抗拿破仑的威胁。为了与法国的力量相匹敌,大陆强国需要其公民的支持和生产力,而这些公民则要求更多的自治权和更大的政府发言权。拿破仑之前的军队以文艺复兴晚期的结构为基础,由通常未经训练的贵族指挥,但军官的死亡人数和拿破仑时代军队规模的迅速扩张迫使军事指挥权发生变化。拿破仑将法国农民和中产阶级市民变成了一支强大的军队。许多新军官并非出身贵族,他们率领军队为他或与他作战,他们不愿回国,回到旧体制。
The grand paradox of Napoleon’s reign was that he ended the Republic and failed to conquer Europe but set the continent on a course that brought about the very reforms that other countries had gone to war against him to defeat. With the exception of the British, who had suffered through similar reforms a century earlier, the wars forced many European countries to undergo major economic and social change. Agrarian economies and restricted middle classes could not provide the material resources to counter the Napoleonic threat. To match the power of France, the continental powers needed the support and productivity of their citizens, and in turn those citizens demanded more autonomy and a greater say in government. Pre-Napoleonic armies were based on late Renaissance structures and commanded by the often-untrained nobility, but the death toll among officers and the rapid expansion of the size of Napoleonic-era armies forced a change in military command. Napoleon had taken French peasants and middle-class burghers and turned them into a powerful army. Many new officers, who were not drawn from the nobility, led forces into battle for or against him. They were not willing to go home and return to the old system.
从牛顿到十九世纪初,业余科学家的自由和广阔视野使英国科学受益匪浅,但随着科学知识的日益复杂,这种方法开始失效。科学力量的中心转移到法国,甚至转移到德国的学校和研究机构。在英国,皇家学会所倡导的科学实用性的言论听起来越来越空洞。皇家学会对科学和科学家的支持越来越少,事实上,它已经变成了一种排他性的社交俱乐部。大多数会员很少或根本不从事科学工作,但他们对科学问题进行评判,并向政府提供建议。查尔斯·巴贝奇 (1792-1871) 等科学家特别担心政府对科学缺乏支持(尽管他因计算机方面的工作获得了一些资助)和皇家学会的状况。巴贝奇撰写了《英国科学衰落的反思》(1830 年),并于 1831 年出版了第二版,其中包含了附加材料和迈克尔·法拉第的序言。这是对皇家学会的一次尖刻攻击。虽然其中许多观点是正确的,但它并没有说服皇家学会改变其方向。
The freedom and broad scope of the amateur scientist had benefited British science in the years from Newton to the early nineteenth century, but with the increasing complexity of scientific knowledge, that approach was failing. The centers of scientific strength shifted to France and, even more, to German schools and research organizations. In Britain the rhetoric of scientific utility as espoused by the Royal Society rang increasingly hollow. The Royal Society was doing less and less to support science and scientists and had, in fact, become little more than a kind of exclusive social club. Most members conducted little or no scientific work, yet they sat in judgment on scientific matters and offered advice to the government. Scientists such as Charles Babbage (1792–1871) were particularly concerned about the lack of government support for science (although he received a number of grants for his work on calculating machines) and the state of the Royal Society. Babbage wrote Reflections on the Decline of Science in England (1830) and published a second edition with additional material and a foreword by Michael Faraday in 1831. It was a vitriolic attack on the Royal Society. While many of its points were valid, it did little to persuade the Royal Society to change its orientation.
由于皇家学会认为没有理由改变,巴贝奇和他的一些朋友决定创建一个致力于科学和促进科学的新学会。1831 年,他们以德意志科学学会为蓝本,成立了英国皇家学会。自然研究协会成立于 1822 年,由 Lorenz Oken (1777–1851) 创建。皇家学会和法国科学院是精英组织,将科学视为高级智力追求,成员资格受到严格限制,而新学会则围绕实际参与科学而组织。BAAS 不仅在伦敦举行会议,还在全国各地和加拿大等殖民地举行会议。这些会议为众多博物学家提供了一个展示当地知识的场所,而这些知识被精英组织忽视或认为太不重要。BAAS 与工业界的联系也比皇家学会更紧密,因为它的成员资格对任何对科学感兴趣的人开放,包括小企业主、学校教师和工匠,而皇家学会则继续通过赞助和选举来选出成员。
With the Royal Society seeing no reason to change, Babbage and a number of his friends opted to create a new society dedicated to science and the promotion of science. In 1831 they founded the BAAS, modeled on the Deutsche Naturforscher-Versammlung, which had been created in 1822 by Lorenz Oken (1777–1851). Where the Royal Society and the Académie des Sciences were elite organizations that treated science as a superior intellectual pursuit and in which membership was tightly restricted, the new societies were organized around actual participation in science. The BAAS held meetings not only in London but all over the country and in colonial territories such as Canada. These meetings encouraged scores of naturalists by providing a venue for the presentation of local knowledge that was ignored or deemed too insignificant for the elite organization. The BAAS also developed closer ties with industry than did the Royal Society, since its membership was open to anyone interested in science including small-business owners, schoolteachers, and craftspeople, unlike the Royal Society, which continued to select members by sponsorship and election.
巴贝奇和他的支持者担心英国会失去其在科学领域的领先地位,但落后的后果在很大程度上被忽视了,因为这些后果被大英帝国日益增长的实力所掩盖。1851 年,英国人在伦敦举行的大型国际博览会上大规模展示技术和帝国,以庆祝其强大。展览的核心是约瑟夫·帕克斯顿的水晶宫,这是一个由铸铁框架和玻璃面板建造的展示厅。里面是当时的工业奇迹,各种各样的机器和产品汇集在一起,以展示和促进技术创新。展览是一项庞大的工程,有来自世界各地的 13,000 件展品,包括工业和商业展品和美术品。它还包括来自帝国的异国情调展品,比如来自英属圭亚那的巨型睡莲,它的叶子大到足以支撑一个孩子的体重。展览吸引了超过 600 万游客。这座建筑本身就是一项创新,是现代模块化钢架结构的先驱。帕克斯顿大楼使用了 4,000 吨铁作为骨架,并使用了 83,610 平方米的玻璃外墙,封闭了海德公园内 71,800 平方米的空间(见图7.8)。
Babbage and his supporters were concerned about Britain losing its leading position in science, but for the most part the consequences of falling behind went unnoticed, masked as they were by the growing power of the British Empire. In 1851 the British celebrated that power with a massive display of technology and empire at the Great International Exhibition in London. The centerpiece of the Exhibition was Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace, a display hall built of a cast iron frame and glass panels. Inside were the industrial marvels of the day, a cornucopia of machines and products brought together to demonstrate and promote technical innovation. The Exhibition was a massive undertaking, with 13,000 exhibits from around the world including industrial and commercial displays and fine arts. It also included exotic displays from the empire, with plants such as a mammoth water lily from British Guiana that had leaves large enough to support a child’s weight. The Exhibition attracted over 6 million visitors. The building itself was an innovation, a forerunner of modern modular steel-frame construction. Paxton used 4,000 tons of iron for the skeleton and 83,610 m2 of glass exterior skin to enclose 71,800 m2 of space in Hyde Park. (See figure 7.8.)
7.8水晶宫
7.8 CRYSTAL PALACE
水晶宫,1851年万国工业博览会的中央展厅。
The Crystal Palace, the central exhibition hall of the Great Exhibition of 1851.
与展览相关的是教育人们并普及美术、商业和科学的努力。许多人指出,虽然英国在英国虽然拥有强大的工业实力,但在技术和科学教育的培训和机构支持方面却落后于竞争对手。在博览会举办的同一年,英国政府矿业与应用科学艺术学校开学,这在一定程度上回应了人们对科学培训的持续担忧。1863 年,该学校更名为皇家矿业学院,并于 1872 年增设了“新科学学校”;该校建于南肯辛顿,资金来自博览会的利润。新科学学校设有自然历史系和物理科学系。虽然这些努力对英国有所帮助,但它们无法与法国或德国在技术和科学培训方面的支持和范围相提并论。
Associated with the Exhibition were efforts to educate people about and to popularize fine arts, business, and science. A number of people noted that, while Britain led the world with her industrial power, she lagged behind her rivals in training and institutional support for technical and scientific education. In the same year as the Exhibition, the Government School of Mines and of Science Applied to the Arts opened its doors, a partial response to the continuing concern about science training. The school was renamed the Royal School of Mines in 1863, and it added the “New Science School” in 1872; it was built in South Kensington with profits from the Exhibition. The New Science School contained the Departments of Natural History and Physical Science. While these efforts helped Britain, they did not match the support and scope of technical and science training in France or Germany.
在法国,高等师范学院培养了一代又一代重要的科学家,包括数学家埃瓦里斯特·伽罗瓦(1811-32 年)、社会学家埃米尔·杜尔克姆(1858-1917 年)和生物学家路易斯·巴斯德(1822-95 年)。巴斯德受过化学、物理和生物学方面的广泛训练,他的科学生涯始于研究酸的不对称晶体结构。作为一名活力论者,他坚信生物体与非生物物质本质上是不同的。他的晶体学意义重大,但他最著名的是他的细菌学工作。他发现葡萄酒、牛奶和醋的发酵过程是由于微生物的活动而不是化学反应。巴斯德继承了十七、十八世纪显微镜学家的观察成果,并进行了严格控制的实验,发现这些微生物是厌氧的(无需氧气即可生存),而且它们可以被高温杀死。巴氏灭菌法用于酿酒(后来用于牛奶生产),可以杀死有害微生物,这促进了法国酿酒业的发展,也为巴斯德带来了丰厚的专利回报。
In France, the École Normale Supérieure produced generations of important scientists, including people such as mathematician Évarist Galois (1811–32), sociologist Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), and biologist Louis Pasteur (1822–95). Pasteur, who was broadly trained in chemistry, physics, and biology, began his scientific career investigating the asymmetrical crystalline structures of acids. As a vitalist, he was convinced that living organisms were intrinsically different from nonliving matter. As significant as his crystallography was, he is most famous for his bacteriological work. He discovered that the fermentation process – in wine, milk, and vinegar – was due to the activity of microscopic animals rather than a chemical reaction. Carrying on the observations of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century microscopists, and adding carefully controlled experimental work, Pasteur discovered that these micro-organisms were anaerobic (lived without oxygen) and that they could be killed by heat. The process of pasteurization, used in winemaking (and later in milk production) to kill harmful microbes, boosted the French wine industry, as well as earning Pasteur a good return on his patents.
在他的职业生涯中,巴斯德将罗伯特·科赫(1843-1910)首次提出的细菌致病理论扩展到蚕病;开发了炭疽病和狂犬病疫苗;并帮助在世界各地建立巴斯德研究所以开展他的研究。他是一位熟练的自我推销者,并在与费利克斯·普歇(1800-72)关于自然发生可能性的重要科学辩论中获胜。普歇认为,生命可以在适当的条件下(如温暖、潮湿的土壤或粪便)从无生命物质中产生。当实验结果不确定时,巴斯德只是说自然发生是不可能的,他作为法国最著名的科学家的地位当天的争论就此结束。后来的研究证实了巴斯德的立场,但自然发生论在生物学中基本消失了。
During his career, Pasteur extended the germ theory of disease, first put forward by Robert Koch (1843–1910), to diseases in silkworms; developed vaccinations for anthrax and rabies; and helped establish Pasteur Institutes around the world to carry on his research. He was a skilled self-promoter and won an important scientific debate with Felix Pouchet (1800–72) concerning the possibility of spontaneous generation. Pouchet believed that life could be created from inanimate matter under the right conditions (such as warm, moist earth or dung). When an experiment proved inconclusive, Pasteur simply said that spontaneous generation was not possible, and his status as the most famous French scientist of the day ended the argument. Later work confirmed Pasteur’s position, but spontaneous generation largely disappeared as idea in biology.
到十九世纪初,殖民主义和全球接触让许多人清楚地认识到欧洲技术的力量,而且往往以最血腥的言辞。一些非欧洲国家开始意识到这种帝国主义的科学基础,并开始自己寻找它。在某些情况下,科学交流已经建立得很好;例如,耶稣会士自十六世纪以来就一直在中国教学。在早期,耶稣会士从中国人那里学到的东西比中国人从欧洲人那里学到的东西还多(这种情况在 1793 年的麦卡特尼使团中重演),但到了十九世纪,随着欧洲帝国主义的兴起,欧洲的科学思想对非欧洲国家具有了新的重要性。
By the beginning of the nineteenth century, colonialism and global contacts had made clear to many people, often in the bloodiest terms, the power of European technology. Some non-European nations began to realize that there was a scientific foundation to this imperial power and began to seek it out for themselves. In some cases, scientific exchange was well established; for example, the Jesuits had been teaching in China since the sixteenth century. In the early days, the Jesuits learned more from the Chinese than the Chinese learned from the Europeans (a situation repeated in the McCartney mission of 1793), but by the nineteenth century the scientific ideas of Europe took on new importance for non-European powers with the rise of European imperialism.
在日本,一小群学者和收藏家创造了本土自然哲学,并最终发展成为一个科学界,这首先是受到对中国学术的兴趣的推动,后来是受到欧洲思想的推动,这些思想有时被偷运到日本。在德川时代(1600-1868 年),天文学家和教师受雇于幕府将军,领取微薄的薪水。医生通常接受过自然哲学和医学方面的培训,比天文学家或哲学家拥有更高的社会地位。在 1633-9 年的锁国政策之前,荷兰和葡萄牙商人将欧洲医学文献带到了日本。由于实用性,外科手术和药物学的信息尤其受到追捧。1639 年之后,唯一允许进入日本的外国商人是荷兰人、韩国人和中国人,他们都受到严格控制。 1650 年,幕府官员向荷兰订购了一本欧洲解剖学教科书,并指示一些医生学习西方医学。随着时间的推移,日本人研究和翻译了大量欧洲医学书籍,对遵循欧洲风格的实验生理学和解剖学的兴趣日益浓厚,导致以中国为基础的医疗实践逐渐衰落。
In the case of Japan, the transformation of a small group of scholars and collectors creating an Indigenous natural philosophy into a scientific community was spurred first by interest in Chinese scholarship and later by European ideas, sometimes smuggled into Japan. During the Tokugawa period (1600–1868), astronomers and teachers were employed by the shogun and received a modest salary. Physicians, who were often trained in natural philosophy as well as medicine, had a higher social standing than astronomers or philosophers. Prior to the sakoku (closed country) policy of 1633–9, Dutch and Portuguese traders brought European medical texts to Japan. Information about surgery and materia medica (pharmacology) were particularly sought after because of their utility. After 1639, the only foreign traders allowed in Japan were the Dutch, Korean, and Chinese, all strictly controlled. In 1650, shogun officials ordered a European anatomical textbook from the Dutch and directed a number of physicians to study Western medicine. Over time, the Japanese examined and translated a number of European medical books and growing interest in experimental physiology and anatomy following the European style led to a decline in Chinese-based medical practice.
在锁国政策之前,耶稣会士已经引入了欧洲天文学(主要是托勒密及其亚里士多德基础),但 1670 年左右中国守时历的引入为天文学提供了一种更实用的方法。这不仅仅是死记硬背,因为中国历法是使用欧洲世界地图为日本修改的,以适应不同的经度和纬度。这种思想的融合在天文学家浅田五龙(1734-99 年)的生活和工作中清晰可见。他接受过医术培训,自学天文学,离开家族前往大阪从事天文学研究。他的赞助人和学生间重富(1756-1816 年)拥有一本中国天文学文本,该文本由一位耶稣会士编辑,其中包括开普勒的三定律。根据科学史学家桥本武彦的说法,开普勒的观察和理论之间的一致性给浅田留下了深刻的印象,因此他开始研究西方天文学。反过来,从欧洲天文学中学到的技能促使他进行了对日本的数学调查,并于 1821 年绘制了第一张日本本土地图。
European astronomy (primarily Ptolemy and its Aristotelian foundation) had been introduced by Jesuits prior to the sakoku policy, but the introduction of the Chinese Shou-shih calendar around 1670 offered a much more practical approach to astronomy. This was not just rote adoption, since the Chinese calendar was modified for Japan using a European world map to adjust for the different longitude and latitude. The fusion of ideas can be clearly seen in the life and work of the astronomer Goryu Asada (1734–99). Trained as a physician, he taught himself astronomy and left his clan to do astronomy in Osaka. Shigetomi Hazama (1756–1816), his patron and student, owned a copy of a Chinese astronomical text that had been edited by a Jesuit who included Kepler’s three laws. According to the historian of science Takehiko Hashimoto, the Keplerian agreement between observation and theory impressed Asada so much that he began to study Western astronomy. In turn, the skills learned from European astronomy led to a mathematical survey of Japan and the creation of the first indigenous map of Japan in 1821.
日本科学地位的重大变化之一源于武士阶层进入“技术学校”,这些学校教授天文学、物理学和数学等科目。这既提高了人们对物理科学的兴趣,也提高了物理科学的地位。1853 年,佩里准将的到来进一步激发了人们对西方科学的兴趣。佩里的到来迫使日本人与美国建立外交关系,而佩里船只的出现也让日本人意识到,美国的技术远远领先于日本。到 1870 年,对西方实践的兴趣促使肥后政府关闭了儒家学校自修馆,并开设了由西点军校毕业生 LL Janes 上尉管理的瑜珈光学院。除了英语教学外,他还教授数学、化学、物理和地质学。
One of the crucial changes in the place of science in Japan came about because of the entry of the samurai class into “technical schools,” which taught subjects such as astronomy, physics, and mathematics. This increased both the interest in and status of the physical sciences. Interest in Western science was further increased by the arrival of Commodore Perry in 1853. Perry’s arrival forced the Japanese to open diplomatic relations with the United States and the appearance of his ships made the Japanese realize that the technology of the Americans was far ahead of anything in Japan. By 1870, interest in Western practices prompted the Higo administration to close the Jishukan academy, a Confucian school, and open the Yogakko academy run by Captain L.L. Janes, a graduate of West Point. In addition to English instruction, he taught mathematics, chemistry, physics, and geology.
1868 年,德川幕府时代结束,明治时代(“开明统治”)开始。这一时期的特点是恢复天皇的权力,但也宣誓:
In 1868 the Tokugawa shogunate ended and the Meiji (“enlightened rule”) period began. This was characterized by restoration of the power of the emperor, but also by the Charter Oath:
虽然第五条款明确表明日本希望从世界各地挑选最好的思想和实践,包括科学方面的思想和实践,但它也值得注意的是,第四条款包含的自然法观念与十八世纪末许多欧洲思想家所倡导的相同。
While clause five clearly indicated Japan’s desire to select the best ideas and practices, including those of science, from anywhere in the world, it is also important to note that clause four contains the same conception of natural law as was promoted by many European thinkers in the late eighteenth century.
日本是科学对非西方国家现代化重要性的一个很好的例子。虽然科学起源于欧洲,但它并不是通过殖民主义或其他形式的胁迫强加给其他人的西方思想。日本学者和领导人有多种自然哲学来源,最初将中国和国内思想相结合作为日本自然哲学的基础。当来自欧洲的竞争思想渗透进来时,他们根据其实用性接受或拒绝它们,但他们也融合和改编了这些思想。今天,日本是世界上最注重科学的国家之一,但它保留了自己的传统和文化。
Japan provides an excellent example of the importance of science to modernization for non-Western countries. Although this science originated in Europe, it was not a Western idea that was somehow imposed on others by colonialism or other forms of coercion. Japanese scholars and leaders had a variety of sources for natural philosophy and in the beginning used a combination of Chinese and domestic ideas as the foundation of Japanese natural philosophy. When competing ideas filtered in from Europe, they accepted or rejected them based on their utility, but they also blended and adapted those ideas. Today, Japan is one of the most science-oriented countries in the world, but it retains its own traditions and culture.
当法国科学因巴斯德等科学家的工作而蓬勃发展时,德国正在制定一项成果丰硕的科学计划。到 1850 年,德国各州已经形成了强大的科学文化,改变了大学的教学和研究,并在科学家、企业和政府之间建立了合作网络。起初,被财富和帝国蒙蔽了双眼的英国没有认识到德国的进步程度,而是依赖于开尔文勋爵等知名科学家的声望和专业知识。虽然一些英国化学家和物理学家在“纯”研究方面与法国和德国的研究人员不相上下,但欧洲大陆的科学家得到了投入科学和工程的资金和精力的支持,这是科学与国家和工业需求更大程度融合的一部分。化学在 18 世纪已成为一个独立的研究类别,但在 19 世纪,它处于不断变化的状态。很多工业化学都是以手工艺或工匠生产系统为基础的,但到了十九世纪中叶,材料需求急剧增加,导致大规模生产方法的需求增加。一些产品,如火药、染料、酸和海军材料(如沥青)非常重要,需求量很大,以至于它们成为国家安全问题。要了解获取和维持这些材料的供应如何发展成为一个严重的国家问题,我们必须回到实验室,重温上个世纪留下的一些化学线索。
While French science prospered through the work of scientists such as Pasteur, Germany was creating a scientific program that proved incredibly fruitful. By 1850, the German states had promoted a strong scientific culture, transforming teaching and research at the universities and creating a network of partnerships among scientists, business, and government. At first, Britain, blinded by wealth and empire, did not recognize the extent of Germany’s progress and relied on the eminence and expertise of such established scientists as Lord Kelvin. Although some British chemists and physicists were on a par with French and German researchers in terms of “pure” research, the continental scientists were supported by the money and effort poured into science and engineering as part of a larger integration of science with state and industrial needs. Chemistry had emerged as a separate category of research in the eighteenth century, but in the nineteenth century it was in a state of flux. Much industrial chemistry was based on a craft or artisan system of production, but by the middle of the nineteenth century sharply increased demands for materials led to a greater need for mass production methods. Some products such as gunpowder, dyestuffs, acids, and naval materials such as pitch were so important and in such high demand that they became issues of national security. To understand how obtaining and maintaining supplies of these materials would develop into a serious national issue, we have to head back to the laboratory and pick up some of the threads of chemistry left from the previous century.
世纪之交,新工艺不断涌现,更多物质迅速被创造和发现。虽然这证明了虽然人们对化学产生了浓厚的兴趣并帮助了供应行业,但也意味着会有更多的元素令人困惑。例如,拉瓦锡在他的著作《化学元素》中列出了 33 种元素,但到 1860 年,列表中又添加了 32 种新元素,以及上个世纪不存在的 1,000 种化合物。化学家们正在开发更好的实验室技术,这得益于罗伯特·本生(1811-99 年)和他的学生亨利·罗斯科(1833-1915 年)发明的本生灯等新工具。燃烧器的无色火焰将物质加热到足以发光的温度。结果,化学家们发现每种物质都有独特的光谱颜色模式,这一发现对分析工作非常有用,包括本生发现的两种元素:铷和铯。
At the turn of the century new processes were being pioneered, and more substances were being rapidly created and discovered. While this demonstrated a robust interest in chemistry and helped supply industry, it also meant there was more to be confused about. For example, Lavoisier had listed 33 elements in his work Elements of Chemistry, but 32 new elements were added to the list by 1860, as well as 1,000 compounds that had not existed in the previous century. Chemists were developing better laboratory techniques, made possible by new tools such as the Bunsen burner, introduced by Robert Bunsen (1811–99) and his student Henry Roscoe (1833–1915). The burner’s colorless flame heated substances to a point hot enough to emit light. As a result, chemists found that each substance had a unique pattern of spectral colors, a finding that proved extremely useful for analytical work, including Bunsen’s discovery of two elements: rubidium and cesium.
尽管更好的工具和技术提供了有趣且有用的材料,但有关化学活动的基本问题需要一个总体理论来将信息整合成一个综合系统。秩序是必需的,有些人认为可以通过寻找元素的隐藏关系来获得秩序。约翰·道尔顿(1766-1844)提出了一种原子理论,该理论通过原子量(基于将元素与氢进行比较而得出的相对质量)来区分元素。这一思想发表在他的《化学哲学新体系》(1808 年)中,并广泛影响了人们对物质的理解。然而,按重量简单线性列出元素并不能提供太多结构。1829 年左右,约翰·德贝赖纳(1780-1849 年)将元素分为三组,称为“三元组”,并注意到分组元素具有相似的属性。 1862 年,AE Béguyer de Chancourtois(1820–86 年)发表了他所谓的“泰勒螺旋”理论,该理论将已知元素排列在圆柱体上的 45° 线上。这是朝着按重量和特性排列元素迈出的一步,但并未引起太多关注。
Although better tools and techniques provided interesting and useful materials, fundamental questions about chemical activity required an overarching theory to pull the information into a comprehensive system. Order was needed, and some felt that it could be obtained by looking for the hidden relationship of the elements. John Dalton (1766–1844) had propounded an atomic theory that distinguished elements by their atomic weights (relative masses based on the assignment of a comparison of elements with hydrogen as the lightest). This idea was published in his New System of Chemical Philosophy (1808) and widely influenced how matter was understood. Yet a simple linear list of elements by weight did not provide much structure. Around 1829 Johann Döbereiner (1780–1849) put elements in groups of three, called “triads,” and noted similar properties in the grouped elements. In 1862 A.E. Béguyer de Chancourtois (1820–86) published what he called the “telleric helix” that placed the known elements on 45° lines arranged on a cylinder. It was a step toward organizing the elements by weight and characteristics, but it gained little notice.
1826 年,伟大的化学家永斯·雅各布·贝采利乌斯(1779-1848 年)计算了 48 种元素的原子量和数百种相关氧化物的分子量。然而,他的工作并没有得到普遍接受,因为其他研究人员提出了其他原子量和测量系统。不同的科学家在测量中使用不同的原子量标准,一些科学家使用氢作为原子量 1,而贝采利乌斯则将氧设为 100 并测量其重量。经过数年的研究,1860 年,斯坦尼斯劳·坎尼扎罗(1826-1910 年)宣布了一种解决原子量测量问题的新方法,他证明可以将气体和蒸汽的密度与氢的密度进行比较,以准确确定元素和化合物的分子量。
In 1826 the great chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848) calculated atomic weights for 48 elements and molecular weights for hundreds of associated oxides. His work was not universally accepted, however, as other researchers proposed alternative atomic weights and systems of measurement. Different scientists used different standards for atomic weight for their measurements, some using hydrogen as one on the scale, while Berzelius set oxygen as equal to 100 and measured weights against it. After several years of work, in 1860 Stanislao Cannizzaro (1826–1910) announced a new way to deal with the problem of measuring atomic weight when he demonstrated that the density of gases and vapors could be compared with the density of hydrogen in order to determine the molecular weights of elements and compounds accurately.
有了可靠的方法测定原子量,就有可能解决元素分类的问题。Julius Lothar Meyer1864 年,他创建了一个元素表,将具有相似性质的元素按原子量顺序排列在列中。这些类似的元素也表现出相似的价数。价数最初是元素结合力的量度。价数高的元素,如氧,与其他元素剧烈结合形成化合物,而其他元素,如金,则很少形成化合物。用现代术语来说,价数是基于元素可以结合的氢原子数;例如,一个氧原子可以与两个氢原子或另一个氧原子结合。该系统还与元素的化学活性相关,而不仅仅是数量。例如,价数为 1 的元素(如碱金属)非常活泼,而价数为 3 的元素(氮或砷)则活泼性要小得多。有机化学中最重要的四种元素按价数形成了一个漂亮的列表:
With a reliable method for determining atomic weight in hand, it became possible to address the question of classification of the elements. Julius Lothar Meyer created a table of elements in 1864 that placed elements with similar properties in columns in sequence with their atomic weights. These analogous elements also exhibited similar valence. Valence was initially a measure of the combining power of an element. Elements with a high valence, such as oxygen, vigorously combined with other elements to form compounds, while other elements, such as gold, only rarely formed compounds. In modern terms valence is based on the number of hydrogen atoms with which an element may combine; for example, one atom of oxygen can combine with two atoms of hydrogen or one other atom of oxygen. This system also correlated with the chemical activity of elements, not just quantity. For example, the elements with valence of 1 (such as alkali metals) were very reactive, while elements with valence of 3 (nitrogen or arsenic) were much less reactive. The four most important elements for organic chemistry form a nice list by valence:
H(氢) H (hydrogen) | 1 |
O(氧气) O (oxygen) | 2 |
N(氮) N (nitrogen) | 3 |
C(碳) C (carbon) | 4 |
在英国,分析化学家亚历山大·雷纳·纽兰兹(Alexander Reina Newlands,1837-98 年)独立制作了一个元素表,按族和原子量对元素进行分组。1866 年,当他向化学学会提交他的工作时,该表受到了批评,既因为类似族的问题,也因为它没有为各个族内似乎存在的明显间隙或奇怪的重量跳跃留出空间。他的论文“八度定律和原子量间数值关系的原因”被化学学会杂志拒绝。这次拒稿又给化学学会带来了麻烦,因为与纽兰兹的工作非常相似的元素周期表不是由英国化学家而是由俄罗斯人建立的。化学学会于 1887 年迟迟授予纽兰兹最高奖项戴维奖章。
In Britain, analytical chemist Alexander Reina Newlands (1837–98) independently produced a table of elements that grouped them by families and atomic weight. When he presented his work to the Chemical Society in 1866, it was criticized both for problems with the analogous groups and because it left no spaces for the apparent gaps or odd jumps in weight that seemed to exist within various groups. His paper “The Law of Octaves and the Causes of Numerical Relations between Atomic Weights” was rejected by the Journal of the Chemical Society. This rejection came back to haunt the Chemical Society when the periodic table, which looked very much like Newlands’s work, was established not by a British chemist but by a Russian. The Chemical Society belatedly awarded Newlands its highest prize, the Davy Medal, in 1887.
尤利乌斯·洛塔尔·迈耶(1830-95 年)和德米特里·伊万诺维奇·门捷列夫(1834-1907 年)对元素进行了排序。他们各自都认识到元素可以按原子量和特性分组。1868 年,迈耶创建了九列,并将具有相似特性的元素按原子量的升序排列。同年,门捷列夫开始编写化学教科书那将是化学知识的伟大综合。就像拉瓦锡在《化学元素》中所做的那样,他试图对所有已知元素进行分类。他为每种元素制作了一张卡片,列出其属性,然后反复排列卡片,寻找某种模式。当按原子量对卡片进行排序时,模式就显现出来了。他于 1869 年制作了元素表,并于 1871 年制作了改进版。(见图7.9。)虽然仍然存在问题,特别是对于一些最近发现的、特性尚不完全确定的元素,但他的安排清楚地表明了原子量的级数以及按特性和价数收集的系列。
Julius Lothar Meyer (1830–95) and Dmitri Ivanovitch Mendeleev (1834–1907) gave order to the elements. Each independently recognized that the elements could be grouped by both atomic weight and by characteristic. In 1868 Meyer created nine columns and placed elements with similar characteristics in ascending order of atomic weight. That same year Mendeleev began to write a chemistry textbook that was to be a great synthesis of chemical knowledge. Like Lavoisier did in the Elements of Chemistry, he attempted to classify all known elements. He made a card for each element, listing its properties, and then arranged and rearranged the cards, looking for some pattern. A pattern emerged when the cards were sorted by atomic weight. He produced a table of elements in 1869 and an improved version in 1871. (See figure 7.9.) While there continued to be problems, especially with some of the more recently discovered elements whose characteristics were not completely certain, his arrangement made clear both the progression of atomic weight and the collection of series by characteristics and valence.
7.9 ANNALEN DER CHEMIE (1871)中的门捷列夫元素周期表
7.9 MENDELEEV’S PERIODIC TABLE FROM ANNALEN DER CHEMIE (1871)
门捷列夫的伟大见解之一是留下空白,代表尚未发现的元素,然后他预测这些元素的具体特征。门捷列夫于 1869 年抢在迈耶之前发表了论文,但迈耶在 1870 年制作了一张与现代元素周期表几乎完全相同的新表时,纳入了门捷列夫的一些工作。
One of Mendeleev’s great insights was to leave gaps representing undiscovered elements, whose particular characteristics he then predicted. Mendeleev beat Meyer to press in 1869, but Meyer included some of Mendeleev’s work when he produced a new table in 1870 that was almost identical to the modern periodic table of elements.
门捷列夫的体系汇集了大量化学思想和信息。正如拉瓦锡的命名法蕴含着一种潜在的哲学一样,元素周期表也代表了一种特殊的物质哲学。它将物质视为一组独特且不可分割的粒子。这些粒子能够结合形成更复杂的化合物,但它们只能以固定的比例结合。元素的原子是相同的,并且以相同的方式表现。该表还编纂了物理世界的某些概念,例如给定质量的物质中的原子数量、价数和元素的定义。虽然现代元素周期表往往作为一种指标,它背后有着关于物质结构和状态的所有这些问题的长期争论历史。当科学家使用元素周期表时,他或她接受了其中蕴含的哲学思想。经过长期使用和证明其可靠性后,对元素周期表的接受已成为无意识的,深深植根于科学实践中,以至于它被认为是公理,因此很难受到挑战。
Mendeleev’s system pulled together a vast array of chemical ideas and information. Just as Lavoisier’s nomenclature contained an underlying philosophy within it, so too did the periodic table present a particular philosophy of matter. It treated matter as a collection of distinct and indivisible particles. The particles were capable of combining to form more complex compounds, but they could do so only in fixed proportions. Atoms of an element were identical and behaved in the same manner. The table also codified certain conceptions of the physical world such as the quantity of atoms in a given mass of material, valences, and the definition of elements. While the modern periodic table of elements tends to be treated as a kind of index, it has behind it a long history of debate over all these questions about the structure and condition of matter. When a scientist uses the periodic table, he or she accepts the philosophic ideas encoded in it. After long use and demonstrated reliability, the acceptance of the periodic table has become unconscious, so deeply imbedded in the practice of science that it is considered axiomatic and thus very hard to challenge.
门捷列夫元素表空白处所代表的元素的发现进一步证实了门捷列夫体系的实用性。其中,门捷列夫预言了一种被他称为“eka aluminum”(eka在梵语中意为“第一”)的元素的性质。(见图7.10。)1875 年,保罗·埃米尔·勒科克·德·布瓦博德兰(Paul Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran,1838-1912 年)发现了镓,它具有门捷列夫预测的“eka aluminum”的基本特性。1879 年,LF Nilson(1840-99 年)发现了他的“ekaboron”,并将其命名为钪,从此,门捷列夫的名声便得以确立。
The utility of Mendeleev’s system was further supported by the discovery of the elements represented by the blank spaces in his table. Among others, Mendeleev predicted the properties of what he called eka aluminum (eka meaning first in Sanskrit). (See figure 7.10.) In 1875 Paul Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran (1838–1912) discovered gallium, which had the basic characteristics Mendeleev predicted for eka aluminum. When his “ekaboron” was discovered in 1879 by L.F. Nilson (1840–99) and called scandium, Mendeleev’s fame was confirmed.
7.10门捷列夫的预言和布瓦鲍德兰的分析结果
7.10 MENDELEEV’S PREDICTIONS AND BOISBAUDRAN’S ANALYTICAL RESULTS
| 财产 | EKA 铝业 | 镓 |
|---|---|---|
原子量 Atomic weight | ≈68 ≈68 | 69.9 69.9 |
密度 Density | 5.9 5.9 | 5.93 5.93 |
熔点 Melting point | 低的 Low | 30.1 摄氏度 30.1°C |
氧化物的分子式 Formula of oxide | 氧化铁 Ea2O3 | 氧化镓 Ga2O3 |
由于他的成就,门捷列夫于1882年与梅耶共同荣获戴维奖章,1890年当选为英国皇家学会外籍院士,1905年荣获科普利奖章。
For his achievements, Mendeleev won the Davy Medal with Meyer in 1882, was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 1890, and was awarded the Copley Medal in 1905.
虽然元素周期表为理解物质世界提供了强有力的工具,但它也澄清了一个关于物质本质的棘手问题。到 1875 年,已发现 60 多种已证实的元素,人们开始思考:为什么会有这么多不同的元素?质量的微小变化真的能解释它们截然不同的特性吗?一旦确定了价态,就会引发进一步的问题:原子是如何结合在一起的。亲和力理论似乎越来越不充分,因为它无法提供物理解释,说明为什么碳原子的亲和力或结合力是氧的两倍。
While the periodic table provided a powerful tool for understanding the material world, it also made clear a troubling problem about the nature of matter. With over 60 verified elements discovered by 1875, questions arose: Why were there so many different elements? Could small changes in mass really account for their vastly different characteristics? Once the pattern of valence was established, it raised the further question of how atoms stuck together. Affinity theory increasingly seemed inadequate, for it offered no physical explanation for why a carbon atom would have twice the affinity or combining power of oxygen.
尽管元素是纯净的,数量相对有限,但由这些基本单元组成的分子数量却非常庞大,尤其是在有机化学中。现代有机化学研究以碳为主要成分的任何化合物,但十八世纪的许多化学家认为有机化合物只能由生物体产生。根据这种被称为“活力论”的理论,植物和动物中存在一种特殊的生命力。这个想法基于一个简单的观察,即植物和动物是活的,而且虽然由化学元素组成,但明显不同于无机物质。虽然许多人相信活力论,但研究人员并没有清楚地表达出来。一些人认为活力论是生命的一种特殊属性,可以进行研究,而另一些人则认为它是神圣的火花,因此不适合科学研究。1832 年,弗里德里希·维勒 (Friedrich Wöhler, 1800-82) 从无机化合物中生产出尿素,从而打击了活力论,尽管活力论完全消失需要 100 多年的时间。通过用氢氧化铵处理氰酸铅并去除氧化铅,维勒得到了尿素——现代名称为CO(NH 2 ) 2。这是朝着有机化合物的操作和合成迈出的重要一步,在欧洲创建高科技产业的竞赛中发挥了根本性的作用。
Although elements were pure and relatively limited in number, the number of molecules that could be built up out of the building blocks was immense, especially in organic chemistry. Modern organic chemistry looks at any compound that has carbon as its central component, but many chemists in the eighteenth century thought that organic compounds could be produced only by living organisms. According to this theory, called “vitalism,” there was a special force of life in plants and animals. This idea was based on the simple observation that plants and animals were alive and, although composed of chemical elements, clearly were different from inorganic matter. While many believed in vitalism, researchers did not articulate it clearly. Some saw vitalism as a special property of life that could be studied, while others saw it as the divine spark and, therefore, not subjectable to scientific investigation. Friedrich Wöhler (1800–82) struck a blow against the theory of vitalism when he produced urea from inorganic compounds in 1832, although it would take more than 100 years for vitalism to disappear entirely. By treating lead cyanate with ammonium hydroxide and removing lead oxide, Wöhler was left with urea – in modern nomenclature CO(NH2)2. This was a major step toward the manipulation and synthesis of organic compounds, one that had a fundamental role to play in the European race to create high-technology industry.
到 19 世纪 40 年代,人们开始大量研究有机化合物的合成,更重要的是,人们开始试验如何将有机化合物的成分组合起来并进行替换。这些研究大部分基于贝采利乌斯的理论,他提出了电化学组合和自由基的概念。自由基是原子团,它们可以作为稳定的基础。它们可以与其他原子连接(通常来自一小部分可能的替代物),这会改变化合物的性质,但会形成一种相关化合物家族。
By the 1840s there had been a flurry of work on the synthesis of organic compounds and, more importantly, experiments on how the component parts combined and could be substituted. Much of this work was based on the theories of Berzelius, who introduced ideas about electrochemical combination and radicals. Radicals were groups of atoms that were a consistent base. They could have other atoms attached to them (usually from a small list of possible substitutes), which varied the properties of the compound but created a kind of family of related compounds.
Jean-Baptiste-André Dumas(1800-84 年)提出了类型理论,通过根据性质和反应对有机化合物进行分组,以此来理解有机化合物的组成和活性。而他的学生 Auguste Laurent(1807-53 年)则提出了“原子核理论”:由于化合物的结构决定了潜在的化学反应,因此原子在物质中的位置和关系对于理解化学行为至关重要。这些观点的支持者和反对者对此各执一词,但都有助于理解有机化合物的复杂结构和行为。有机化学体系未能得到普遍接受的部分原因是缺乏连贯的信息,例如,不同的化学家对化合物中相同的原子使用不同的原子量。这会导致对相同分析产生明显不同的结果,因此对验证所使用的理论没有多大帮助。
Jean-Baptiste-André Dumas (1800–84) introduced his theory of types as a way of understanding the composition and activity of organic compounds by grouping them according to properties and reactions. In turn, his student, Auguste Laurent (1807–53) proposed the “nucleus theory”: since the structure of the compound determined potential chemical reactions, the place and relationship of the atoms in a substance was vital to understanding chemical behavior. Each of these ideas, strongly argued for and against by their supporters and detractors, contributed to an understanding of the complex structure and behavior of organic compounds. What held back a generally accepted system of organic chemistry was partly a lack of coherent information, since, for example, different chemists used different atomic weights for the same atoms in a compound. This produced apparently different results from the same analysis and, hence, did little to verify the theories being used.
问题在于键合,即各种原子结合在一起的方式。由于在不同情况下可以制造不同数量的原子来形成分子,因此不清楚控制分子产生的规则实际上是如何运作的。弗里德里希·奥古斯特·凯库勒(Friedrich August Kekulé,1829-96 年)帮助澄清了这个问题。与其将自由基视为功能成分,不如将每个原子视为作为等价部分,可以按照固定规则进行组合。核心是碳,它可以与其他四个原子组合(凯库勒称碳为“四原子”或“四基”原子),但不必受到自由基或家族的限制。1857 年,凯库勒用他的“香肠公式”表示了这种关系。(见图7.11。)
The problem was bonding, or the way various atoms joined together. Since differing quantities of atoms could be made to create molecules under different circumstances, it was unclear how the rules governing molecule creation actually worked. Friedrich August Kekulé (1829–96) helped to clarify this problem. Rather than seeing radicals as the functional component, each atom should be treated as an equivalent part that could be combined following fixed rules. At the heart was carbon, which could combine with four other atoms (carbon was “tetratomic” or “tetrabasic” as Kekulé called it) but need not be limited by radical or family groups. In 1857 Kekulé represented the relationship with his “sausage formulae.” (See figure 7.11.)
7.11凯库勒第4 章香肠配方
7.11 KEKULÉ’S SAUSAGE FORMULA FOR CH4
一个碳原子与四个氢原子相连。
One carbon atom is linked to four hydrogen atoms.
强调结构思想对于有机化学至关重要,正如凯库勒在 1864 年发表的一份由不同化学家编写的 20 种不同乙酸分子式列表所表明的那样,这足以说明其混乱程度。(见图7.12。)虽然人们对经验分子式C 4 H 4 O 4(代表四个碳原子、四个氢原子和四个氧原子)普遍认同,但对于如何表示各个成分以及各个功能部分可能是什么,人们却完全一头雾水。
The emphasis on structural ideas was critical for organic chemistry, as Kekulé made clear in 1864 when he published a list of 20 different formulae for acetic acid from various chemists to demonstrate the extent of confusion. (See figure 7.12.) While there was general agreement on the empirical formula, C4H4O4 (representing four carbon, four hydrogen, and four oxygen atoms), there was complete disarray about how to represent the components and what the various functional parts might be.
7.12凯库勒的乙酸表
7.12 KEKULÉ’S ACETIC ACID TABLE
按照凯库勒的思想,人们发明了一种基于每个原子可以形成的键数的图形方法来表示有机分子的复杂结构。3 1866年,用线表示链接的系统出现了,至今仍然是标准方法。虽然在结构理论兴起之前就已经建立了分子模型,但新系统的清晰度鼓励了模型的建立,这对许多研究项目产生了重要影响,其中最引人注目的是 DNA 结构的竞赛。虽然心理上的转变很微妙,但从旧的炼金术概念(转化物质)到新的化学概念(构建分子)的转变,使化学更适合于研究有商业用途的化合物。
Following Kekulé’s ideas, a graphic method of presenting the complex structures of organic molecules based on the number of bonds that each atom could form was worked out.3 In 1866 the system of representing links by lines appeared and continues to be the standard method to the present day. Although models of molecules had been built prior to the rise of structural theories, the clarity of the new system encouraged model building, which had important consequences for a number of research programs, most spectacularly with the race for the structure of DNA. Although the psychological shift was subtle, the change from the old alchemical concept of transforming matter to the new chemical concept of constructing molecules made chemistry more amenable to research on commercially useful compounds.
然而,结构主义思想的胜利不仅基于有机化合物命名法的合理化。结构图清楚地表明,具有相同经验公式(即具有相同数量和种类的原子)的化合物可能具有非常不同的结构,而且某些类别的分子仅在较大结构中原子位置的微小变化上有所不同。
The triumph of structuralist ideas was based not only on rationalizing the nomenclature of organic compounds, however. Structural illustrations made clear that compounds with the same empirical formula (that is, with the same number and kinds of atoms) could have very different structures, and further, that certain classes of molecules differed only by small shifts of location of atoms in a larger structure.
结构方法的最大突破之一是凯库勒发现苯环。苯及其相关物质因其独特且有时刺鼻的气味而被统称为芳香族化合物,最早由迈克尔·法拉第于 1825 年发现。它们是在焦炭生产的副产品煤焦油中发现的,具有有趣的特性,例如能够与多种其他有机化合物结合。苯也呈现出一种神秘感,因为它的经验式C 6 H 6似乎留下了两个未被氢原子填充的剩余链接。如果价数规则正确,则分子的价数为五时,会有两个缺失的氢原子或四个碳原子。这两种可能性都需要重写原子键和元素的定义。
One of the greatest breakthroughs that came out of the structural approach was Kekulé’s discovery of the benzene ring. Benzene and related substances, collectively known as aromatics because of their distinctive and sometimes pungent odors, were first noted by Michael Faraday in 1825. They were found in coal tar, a by-product of coke production, and had interesting properties such as the ability to combine with a wide range of other organic compounds. Benzene also presented a mystery, since its empirical formula C6H6 seemed to leave two leftover links that were not filled by hydrogen atoms. If the valence rules were correct, there were either two missing hydrogen atoms or four carbon atoms if the molecule had valences of five. Either possibility would require a rewriting of the definitions of atomic bonding and elements.
根据凯库勒自己的描述,他在炉火边休息时找到了问题的答案。他想象原子排成长长的一排,像蛇一样移动。其中一条蛇用嘴咬住自己的尾巴。凯库勒利用这个形象设计出苯的六边形模型,其中碳原子对之间有双键,碳原子对之间有单键。(见图7.13。)虽然这个故事可能是事后解释(一些历史学家质疑凯库勒的说法),但它已成为化学史上的标志之一。
According to Kekulé’s own account, he found a solution to the problem while relaxing by the fire. He imagined atoms in long rows and moving like snakes. One of the snakes seized its own tail in its mouth. Kekulé used this image to work out a hexagonal model for benzene with double bonds for pairs of carbon atoms and single bonds between the pairs. (See figure 7.13.) Although this story may have been a post hoc explanation (some historians have questioned Kekulé’s account), it has become one of the icons of the history of chemistry.
7.13苯环
7.13 BENZENE RING
到 19 世纪下半叶初,德国化学工业开始转向凯库勒式的研究,以提高产量并创造新产品,因为德国各州的国内自然资源远不如法国或俄罗斯,而且获得的殖民资源也远不如英国。尽管 1871 年的统一改善了国内资源获取的某些方面,但德国进入殖民游戏的时间很晚。这在后来产生了重大影响,因为德国发动了一系列战争来纠正这种情况。与此同时,自然资源的缺乏是德国对科学教育和研究产生兴趣的主要动力。
By the beginning of the second half of the nineteenth century, German chemical industries were turning to research like Kekulé’s to improve production and create new products, since the German states were far less well endowed with domestic natural resources than France or Russia and had far less access to colonial resources than Britain. Although unification in 1871 improved some aspects of domestic access to resources, Germany was very late entering the colonial game. This had major consequences later, as Germany embarked on a series of wars to rectify the situation. In the meantime lack of natural resources was a major impetus to German interest in science education and research.
1837 年,德国化学家尤斯图斯·冯·李比希(Justus von Liebig,1803-73 年)告诉英国科学协会,英国已不再是科学领域的领导者。李比希是当时最具影响力的科学家之一。19 世纪 40 年代初,他到英国巡回演讲,讲授各种在讨论主题时,他通过描述德国化学领域正在进行的新工作以及化学教育(尤其是实验室培训)日益增长的重要性来强调这一点。因此,德国化学的兴起以及研究性质和地点的转变并没有完全被英国忽视。李比希在吉森的教学实验室是化学教育的典范,将智力训练与实际实验室工作相结合。它让学生参与真正的研究项目,让他们不仅仅是对现有工作有一个技术概述。
In 1837 the German chemist Justus von Liebig (1803–73), one of the most influential scientists of the era, told the British Association that Britain was no longer a leader in science. When he toured that country in the early 1840s lecturing on various topics, he drove the point home by describing the new work being done in chemistry in Germany and the increasing importance of chemical education, especially laboratory-based training. Thus, the rise of German chemistry and the shift in the nature and locale of research did not go completely unnoticed in Britain. Liebig’s own teaching laboratory at Giessen was a model of chemical education that combined intellectual training with practical laboratory work. It involved students in real research projects, giving them more than a technical overview of existing work.
由于英国没有任何机构提供类似的化学教学,一群知名人士,由阿尔伯特亲王夫妇牵头,包括詹姆斯·克拉克爵士(女王的医生)、迈克尔·法拉第和首相罗伯特·皮尔爵士,共同出资建立了皇家化学学院。皇家化学学院于 1845 年开办,由奥古斯特·冯·霍夫曼 (1818-92) 领导,霍夫曼是李比希推荐的,并由亲王夫妇亲自说服从德国来到英国。尽管皇家化学学院是英国恢复科学领导地位的一小步,但当时英国还没有与法国综合理工学院或高等师范学院相当的学院。即使是英国大学,在科学课程的发展方面也远远落后于哥廷根大学等欧洲大陆的同行。
Because there was no comparable chemical instruction at any institution in Britain, a group of prominent people, headed by Albert, the Prince Consort, and including Sir James Clark (the Queen’s physician), Michael Faraday, and Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, contributed to a fund to establish the Royal College of Chemistry. It opened its doors in 1845, under the leadership of August von Hofmann (1818–92), who had been recommended by Liebig and personally persuaded by the Prince Consort to come to Britain from Germany. Although the Royal College of Chemistry was a small step toward reviving science leadership in Britain, there was no British equivalent of the French École Polytechnique or École Normale Supérieure. Even British universities lagged far behind continental counterparts such as the University of Göttingen in the development of science programs.
英国皇家化学学院的主要目标是培养纯研究人员,模仿欧洲大陆学校的高端智力活动,但很少鼓励将研究与应用相结合。应用化学即使不完全被阻止,也被视为二流的人才利用方式。许多学生和在职化学家确实认为,任何涉足应用化学(或更糟的是商业化学)的行为都可能终结研究生涯。在这种背景下,威廉·珀金(1838-1907)在 15 岁时进入了学院。珀金的工作打开了化学新时代的大门,但英国人并没有意识到它的重要性。
The Royal College of Chemistry had as its principal aim the training of pure researchers, copying the high end of intellectual activity at continental schools, but did little to encourage any integration of research with application. Applied chemistry was, if not exactly discouraged, looked down upon as a rather second-class use of talent. It was certainly the case that many students and working chemists felt that any excursion into applied – or worse, commercial – chemistry could end a research career. Against this background, William Perkin (1838–1907) entered the College at the age of 15. Perkin’s work opened the door to a whole new era in chemistry, but it was not the British who saw its importance.
许多人试图合成的天然物质中,奎宁名列前茅。正如我们在本章前面所看到的,奎宁是唯一已知的治疗疟疾的药物,只能从金鸡纳树皮中提取,金鸡纳树原产于南美洲,在其他地方很难种植。到 1852 年,仅东印度公司每年在奎宁上的花费就高达 10 万英镑。
High on the list of natural materials that many were attempting to synthesize was quinine, which, as we saw earlier in this chapter, was the only known treatment for malaria and was produced only from the bark of the cinchona tree, native to South America and difficult to cultivate elsewhere. By 1852 the East India Company alone was spending about £100,000 annually on quinine.
霍夫曼认为萘啶可以转化为奎宁,因为它们具有一些相同的基本成分。萘啶很容易获得,因为它的成分之一石脑油是煤气生产的副产品,煤气广泛用于照明和取暖,是在没有空气的情况下加热煤制成的。捕获的气体中约有 50% 是氢气,35% 是甲烷,其余部分由其他气体混合而成。煤在提取气体后剩下的是焦炭(用作固体燃料)和粘稠的棕黑色焦油。煤焦油富含 200 多种有机化合物,包括苯、萘和甲苯,可用于研究和商业应用。
Hofmann believed that naphthalidine could be converted to quinine because it shared some of the same basic components. Naphthalidine was readily available because one of its components, naphtha, was a by-product of the production of coal gas, which was widely used for lighting and heat and was made by heating coal in the absence of air. The captured gas was about 50 per cent hydrogen and 35 per cent methane, with a mixture of other gases making up the remainder. What was left of the coal after the process of gas extraction was coke, which was used as a solid fuel, and a viscous brown-black tar. Coal tar was a rich source of over 200 organic compounds, including benzene, naphthalene, and toluene, which were useful in both research and commercial applications.
1856 年,珀金开始研究奎宁。他在家里搭建了一个小实验室,试图按照霍夫曼的想法将萘啶转化为奎宁,但实验产生的不是奎宁,而是污泥。然而,他注意到,用来清理失败实验溢出物的抹布被染成了深紫色。他没有将自己的实验视为失败,而是继续净化和测试这种未知物质,结果发现它是人工苯胺,是靛蓝植物的基本着色成分。这种鲜艳的颜色让珀金相信他创造了一种具有商业潜力的产品。在家人的资助下,他建立了第一家人工染料厂,生产一系列紫红色和紫色。然而,他的努力并没有立即取得成功。染色行业使用的材料来自天然——例如靛蓝、茜草和蓝靛果等植物,以及昆虫和软体动物——而且某些染色方法可以追溯到希腊甚至埃及时代,因此,染色行业对创新并不特别感兴趣。
Perkin began his work on quinine in 1856. He created a small laboratory in his home and attempted to follow Hofmann’s idea about the conversion of naphthalidine to quinine, but instead of quinine, the experiment produced sludge. However, he noticed that a rag used to clean up some spills of the failed experiment was stained an intense purple. Rather than seeing his experiment as a failure, he proceeded to purify and test this unknown substance, which turned out to be artificial aniline, the basic coloring component of the indigo plant. The intense color led Perkin to believe that he had created a product with commercial potential. With funding from his family, he established the first artificial dye plant, producing a line of mauve and purples. His endeavor was not an immediate success, however. The dyeing industries, which used materials from natural sources – plants such as indigo, madder, and woad, as well as insects and mollusks – and methods that in some cases could be traced back to Greek or even Egyptian times, were not particularly interested in innovation.
然而,天然染料也存在许多问题。它们的质量参差不齐,而且植物染料每年都会根据生长条件而变化。许多染料来源也产自欧洲以外,这增加了成本并降低了染料的可靠性。这些问题在英国最为直接,因为英国在国际贸易中的主导地位很大程度上依赖于纺织业。珀金的苯胺染料来自国内,质量更加统一。珀金的时机也很幸运,因为在他开始生产染料后不久,维多利亚女王就选择了淡紫色作为她女儿维多利亚公主与普鲁士王子弗雷德里克·威廉 1858 年结婚礼服的颜色。一夜之间,淡紫色成为了时尚界最受欢迎的颜色。尽管女王服装的颜色不是苯胺,但染工最初不愿购买新产品的心理被需求突然超过天然染料供应所克服。
There were, however, many problems with natural-source dyes. They varied enormously in quality, and the plant-based colors changed each year depending on growing conditions. Many of the sources of dyestuffs were also produced outside Europe, increasing cost and decreasing reliable access. These problems were felt most directly in Britain, whose dominance of international trade was based in large part on the textile industry. Perkin’s aniline dye came from domestic sources and was much more uniform in quality. Perkin had fortunate timing, too, because, shortly after he started production of dye, Queen Victoria chose mauve as her gown color for the marriage in 1858 of her daughter, the Princess Royal Victoria, to Prince Frederick William of Prussia. Overnight, mauve was the most desirable color in fashion. Although the colors in the Queen’s outfits were not aniline, the initial reluctance of dyers to buy the new product was overcome by the demand that suddenly outstripped the supply of natural-source dyes.
如果珀金的工作只关注为世界带来更强烈、更均匀、更持久的色彩,那么这将是一项重大的科学成就,尽管微不足道。我们的世界充满了色彩,这些色彩是他工作的化学产物。从彩色摄影到服装,再到新汽车的涂装,一切都可以追溯到珀金的发现和商业发展。然而,以他的名字命名并于 1906 年由美国化学工业协会 (美国分会) 首次颁发的珀金奖章并非因为他在商业上的成功而专门为他设立。该奖章是为了表彰他对现代化学,特别是有机化学的影响而设立的。
If Perkin’s work had been concerned only with bringing more intense, uniform, and lasting color to the world, it would have been a significant, if minor, scientific achievement. Our world is full of colors that are the chemical descendants of his work. Everything from color photography to clothing to the finish on a new automobile can be traced back to Perkin’s discovery and commercial development. However, the Perkin Medal, named after and first awarded to him in 1906 by the Society of Chemical Industry (American Section), was not dedicated to him because he was a commercial success. It was created in recognition of his effect on modern chemistry, especially organic chemistry.
从经济层面来看,苯胺以及后来的茜素染料的商业成功戏剧性地证明了研究可以有真正的应用。化学家可以通过将一项发现从实验室推向市场而致富。许多年轻科学家都意识到了这一事实。许多世界领先的化学公司都是因为人工染料而成立的。Farbenfabrik vormals Friedrich Bayer(现简称为拜耳)由 Friedrich Bayer (1825-80) 和 J. Weskott (1821-76) 于 1863 年创立,生产品红和其他染料。Aktiengesellschaft für Anilinfabrikation,今天更广为人知的名称是 AGFA,由 Paul Mendelssohn-Bartholdy 和 Carl Alexander Martius 于 1867 年创办。Martius 曾在伦敦皇家化学学院为霍夫曼工作;他承诺提供更多资金和新的实验室,以吸引霍夫曼于 1865 年返回德国。
At a monetary level, the commercial success of aniline, and later alizarin, dyes was a dramatic demonstration that research could have real applications. A chemist could get rich by taking a discovery out of the laboratory and into the marketplace. This fact was not lost on many young scientists. A number of the world’s leading chemical companies were formed because of artificial dyes. Farbenfabrik vormals Friedrich Bayer (now known simply as Bayer) was founded by Friedrich Bayer (1825–80) and J. Weskott (1821–76) in 1863 to produce fuchsine and other dyestuffs. The Aktiengesellschaft für Anilinfabrikation, better known today as AGFA, was organized by Paul Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Carl Alexander Martius in 1867. Martius had worked for Hofmann in London at the Royal College of Chemistry; he helped to entice Hofmann to return to Germany in 1865 with the promise of more funding and new laboratories.
尽管染料行业在经济上取得了成功,但珀金的工作打开了有机合成的大门。使苯胺染料成为可能的工具正是使几乎所有现代有机产品成为可能的工具。因此,利用煤焦油研究的经济影响是巨大的。
As economically successful as the dye industry might be, Perkin’s work opened the door to organic synthesis. The tools that made aniline dye possible were the very tools that made almost all modern organic products possible. Thus, the economic impact of the exploitation of coal-tar research was enormous.
到珀金在 36 岁时从染料行业退休时,化学研究与商业开发之间的关系已经完全改变。虽然说这完全是他发现紫红色染料的结果并不公平,但他的工作既重要又具有标志性。
By the time Perkin retired from the dye industry at the very young age of 36, the relationship of chemical research and commercial exploitation had been completely altered. Although it would be unfair to say that this was solely the result of his discovery of mauve dye, his work was both crucial and iconic.
颇具讽刺意味的是,曾担任珀金老师的霍夫曼无法留在英国继续培养下一代化学家,而是搬回了德国。到 1878 年,英国煤焦油产量的价值为 45 万英镑,但在德国,其价值相当于每年超过 200 万英镑。德国有 17 家人造染料工厂,而英国只有 6 家。这形成了一个正反馈循环。由于德国有更多的化学家工作机会,化学是一个有吸引力的教育和职业道路。反过来,化学家的数量扩大了研究范围,从而产生了新产品,对化学家的需求也不断增长,以管理不断扩大的化学生产线。化学生产反过来意味着工业工厂需要工程师、建筑工和技术人员。新的化学工艺要求钢铁新技术生产和零件制造,这些材料可以提供给其他行业。最优秀、最聪明的化学家被引导进行纯研究,下一级的化学家则进入讲师行列,其余的则被工业界吸收。到 1897 年,德国有 4,000 多名化学家从事非学术工作,而英国工业界雇用的化学家不到 1,000 名。
It is also somewhat ironic that Hofmann, who had been Perkin’s teacher, could not be kept in Britain to continue to foster the next generation of chemists but moved back to Germany. By 1878 the value of coal-tar production in Britain was worth £450,000, but in Germany its value was the equivalent of over £2 million annually. Seventeen artificial-dye factories were operating in Germany compared to only six in Britain. This created a positive feedback loop. Because there were many more jobs for chemists in Germany, chemistry was an attractive educational and career path. In turn, the number of chemists extended the range of research being carried out, which led to new products and a growing demand for chemists to manage the expanding lines of chemical production. Chemical production in turn meant industrial plants that needed engineers, builders, and technicians. The new chemical processes called for new technology in steel production and parts manufacturing, which could be made available for other industries. The best and brightest chemists were guided into pure research, with the next tier filling out the ranks of instructors, and the rest being absorbed by industry. By 1897 Germany had more than 4,000 chemists in nonacademic positions, while British industry employed fewer than 1,000.
7.14苯胺染料的化学衍生物和亲属(简要示例)
7.14 CHEMICAL DESCENDANTS AND RELATIVES OF ANILINE DYES (A BRIEF SAMPLE)
| 煤焦油衍生物 | |
|---|---|
染料 Dyes | 紫红色(苯胺)、苦味酸、茜素 Mauve (anilines), Picric, Alizarin |
药理 Pharmacology | 阿司匹林、可待因、奎宁 Aspirin, Codeine, Quinine |
化学武器 Chemical weapons | 氯化苦、溴苄氰 Chlorpicrin, Brombenzylcyanide |
人工香料和香精 Artificial flavours and scents | 香兰素、香豆素 Vanillin, Coumarin |
爆炸物 Explosives | 甲苯,例如三硝基甲苯 (TNT) Toluenes such as Trinitrotoluene (TNT) |
塑料 Plastics | 胶木 Bakelite |
生物学 Biology | 亚甲蓝细胞染色 Methylene Blue Cell Stain |
到 19 世纪末,英国仍然是地球上最强大的国家,但其地位正受到越来越多的挑战。在殖民时代的大博弈中,英国拥有最好的殖民地并控制着海洋,但德国创造了一个科学和工业强国并准备利用它。在即将到来的冲突中,德国求助于其科学家,特别是化学家,以克服其劣势。礼貌的业余绅士科学家和上流社会学者的世界被撕裂了。科学正在从理解世界走向掌握世界,而 19 世纪的科学家几乎没有人知道科学的效用有多么残酷。
By the end of the century, Britain was still the most powerful nation on Earth, but its position was increasingly being challenged. In the great game of the colonial era Britain had the best colonies and controlled the seas, but Germany created a scientific and industrial powerhouse and was getting ready to use it. In the conflict that was to come, Germany turned to its scientists, especially its chemists, to overcome its disadvantages. The world of polite amateur gentleman scientists and upper-class academicians was ripped apart. Science was moving from understanding the world to mastering it, and few scientists working in the nineteenth century had any idea just how brutal scientific utility could be.
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1.2002 年,巴特曼的遗骸被撤下并送回国。她被埋葬在南非东开普省汉基的甘图斯河附近。她回到非洲既被视为对殖民时代种族主义的控诉,也是人类剥削的可怕历史的结束。
1. Baartmann’s remains were taken off display and repatriated in 2002. She was buried near the Gamtoos River in Hankey in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Her return to Africa was seen as both an indictment of the racism of the colonial era and the end of a terrible episode in human exploitation.
2.阿尔弗雷德·丁尼生勋爵,《悼念》,载于《阿尔弗雷德·丁尼生勋爵:权威文本、背景和批评来源》,RH Ross 主编(纽约:诺顿,1973 年),第 36 页。
2. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “In Memoriam,” in Alfred, Lord Tennyson: An Authoritative Text, Background and Sources of Criticism, ed. R.H. Ross (New York: Norton, 1973), 36.
3.有机物的基本成分是碳、氧、氢和氮,还有许多其他成分,如磷、硫和铁,在活细胞中发挥着重要作用。助记符 HONC 按键数列出原子,每个原子具有 H-1、O-2、N-3 和 C-4。
3. The fundamental organic components are carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, with a host of others such as phosphorous, sulfur, and iron playing important roles in living cells. The mnemonic HONC lists the atoms by number of bonds each has H-1, O-2, N-3 and C-4.
尽管我们经常将“原子”一词与 20 世纪中叶第一枚核武器的制造联系起来,但实际上,原子在 19 世纪才成为人们集中研究的焦点。在此过程中,科学实践以及科学与整个社会之间的关系发生了不可逆转的变化。
Although we often associate the term “atomic” with the building of the first nuclear weapons in the middle of the twentieth century, it was actually during the nineteenth century that the atom became the focus of concentrated research. In the process, the practice of science and the relationship between science and the larger society was irrevocably changed.
1815 年,世界是牛顿的。革命、征服和战争可能会扰乱人类生活,但宇宙仍在继续运转,就像一个由质量、运动和引力定律支配的平静而不可避免的钟表。正如启蒙思想家所证明的那样,牛顿主义的影响远远超出了物理学,而牛顿物理学本身几乎完全没有改变地存续了一个多世纪。十九世纪初的物理科学研究倾向于研究牛顿征服的自然方面,实际上是对大师的工作进行微调,或者将牛顿原理应用于他没有研究过的学科,例如热力学和电学。大多数研究人员的目标是将新材料添加到牛顿世界观的凝聚力系统中。随着这项工作的进展,新的工具出现了,有了它们提供的新信息,就需要新的理论构造来解释正在发生的发现,从而挑战牛顿的主导地位。这些新研究产生了两个强有力的研究方向:能量研究(以波和力场为基础的宇宙观)和物质研究(以粒子为基础的这两种方法似乎提出了另一种宇宙观。随着科学家们越来越仔细地研究这两个主题,看似不相容的观点开始交叉,最终在爱因斯坦的工作揭示了物质和能量的相互联系时走到了一起。
In 1815 the world was Newtonian. Revolution, conquest, and war might disturb the realm of human life, but the universe swept on, a serene and inevitable clockwork governed by the laws of mass, motion, and gravity. The impact of Newtonianism stretched far beyond physics, as the Enlightenment thinkers had demonstrated, and Newton’s physics itself survived over a century almost completely unaltered. Work in the physical sciences at the start of the nineteenth century tended to examine either those aspects of nature that Newton had conquered, in effect fine-tuning the Master’s work, or applying Newtonian principles to those subjects he had not investigated, such as thermodynamics and electricity. The objective of most researchers was to add the new material to the cohesive system of the Newtonian worldview. As this work progressed, new tools became available, and with the new information they provided, new theoretical constructs were needed to account for the discoveries being made, thus challenging Newton’s dominance. Two powerful lines of inquiry coming from these new investigations were the study of energy (characterized by a view of the universe based on waves and fields of force) and the study of matter (built on a corpuscular view of nature). These two approaches seemed to propose alternative pictures of the universe. As scientists looked ever more closely at the two subjects, what had seemed like incompatible views began to intersect, eventually coming together when Einstein’s work revealed the interconnection of matter and energy.
然而,在实现这一洞见之前,科学必须进行变革。个人赞助逐渐被机构资助所取代。科学本身变得更加专业化,学科分裂成子学科;例如,化学被分为有机和无机分支。在这个时代,科学家的角色变得更加专业,大量的教育和研究机构应运而生,特别是在英国、法国和德国。十九世纪也是科学发现被转化为实用目的速度的转折点。例如,电和磁从十八世纪的科学研究对象转变为十九世纪末电报和商业发电的工业应用。
Before that insight could be reached, however, science had to be transformed. Personal patronage was increasingly replaced by institutional funding. Science itself became more specialized, with disciplines splitting into subdisciplines; for example, chemistry was divided into organic and inorganic branches. In this era the role of the scientist became more professional, and a profusion of educational and research institutions were created, particularly in Britain, France, and Germany. The nineteenth century was also a turning point for the speed at which scientific discoveries were turned to utilitarian ends. Electricity and magnetism, for example, went from scientific objects of study in the eighteenth century to industrial applications with telegraphy and commercial electrical generation by the end of the nineteenth century.
尽管可以肯定,牛顿意识到了电现象,即使只是通过阅读威廉·吉尔伯特的作品,这也是他的作品中未涉及的主题之一。十八世纪对电的研究因难以控制和发电而受到阻碍。1799 年,亚历山德罗·伏特 (Alessandro Volta,1745-1827) 发明了电堆或电池,为科学家提供了一致、可控和可量化的电流,并使其成为研究对象和新的实验室工具。1820 年春天,汉斯·克里斯蒂安·奥斯特 (Hans Christian Oersted,1777-1851) 将此工具投入使用,在家中演示了通电导线中的电加热。他还计划演示磁性,并在附近设置了一个指南针。在加热实验中,他注意到当电流通过导线时指南针的指针会移动。尽管早期的自然哲学家如吉尔伯特曾将这两种现象视为类似的不可见的超距作用力,但这一观察是首次通过实验表明电和磁是相关的。当这一现象于 9 月在巴黎科学院展示时,安德烈·玛丽·安培 (1775-1836) 观察到了它。安培对化学、物理、心理学和数学有着广泛的兴趣,并于 1814 年当选为数学系院士。当他看到奥斯特的演示时,他意识到了它的重要性并开始研究电和磁场的相互作用。成果是 1827 年的论文“经验得出的电动力学唯一现象的数学理论论文”,该论文通过实验和数学方式演示了电和磁行为,包括磁作用的平方反比定律。像重力一样,磁铁的吸引力也会随着与磁铁距离的平方成正比而减小。安培的工作为电磁学研究奠定了坚实的数学基础。同年,格奥尔格·西蒙·欧姆 (1789-1854) 对这一解释提出了质疑。在Die galvanische Kette, mathematisch bearbeitet (《电流电路研究》) 中,欧姆提出了他的定律,指出电动势等于电流乘以电路总电阻。在这个公式中,欧姆提供了一种量化电路中元件(如电磁铁甚至电线)用电量的方法。欧姆的原始公式如下:
Although it is certain that Newton was aware of electrical phenomena, if only from reading William Gilbert, it was one of the topics untouched in his works. Investigations of electricity in the eighteenth century had been hampered by the difficulty of controlling and generating electricity. The invention in 1799 of the electric pile or battery by Alessandro Volta (1745–1827) gave scientists a consistent, controllable, and quantifiable flow of electricity and made it both an object of study and a new laboratory tool. In the spring of 1820 Hans Christian Oersted (1777–1851) put this tool to work, performing a demonstration in his home on electrical heating in a wire carrying a current. He also planned to do a demonstration on magnetism and had a compass set up nearby. During the heating experiment he noticed that the compass needle moved when current was applied to the wire. Although earlier natural philosophers such as Gilbert had seen both phenomena as similar unseen forces acting at a distance, this observation was the first experimental indication that electricity and magnetism were related. When the effect was demonstrated at the Académie des Sciences in Paris in September, it was observed by André Marie Ampère (1775–1836). Ampère had wide interests in chemistry, physics, psychology, and mathematics and had been elected to the Académie in 1814 in the mathematical section. When he saw Oersted’s demonstration, he recognized its importance and turned to the study of the interaction of electricity and magnetic fields. The product was the 1827 paper “Mémoire sur la théorie mathématique des phénomènes électrodynamique uniquement déduite de l’expérience,” which presented both experimental and mathematical demonstrations of electrical and magnetic behavior, including the inverse square law for magnetic action. Like gravity, the attraction of a magnet decreased by an amount proportional to the square of the distance from the magnet. Ampère’s work put the study of electricity and magnetism on a solid mathematical foundation. In the same year Georg Simon Ohm (1789–1854) added resistance to the explanation. In Die galvanische Kette, mathematisch bearbeitet (The Galvanic Circuit Investigated), Ohm presented his law, stating that the electromotive force was equal to the current multiplied by the total of the resistance of the circuit. In this formulation, Ohm offered a way to quantify the use of electricity by components (devices such as electromagnets and even wire) in a circuit. Ohm’s original formulation was presented as:
其中I'是以安培为单位流过导体的电流,V是以伏特为单位跨越导体的电位差,R是以欧姆为单位导体的电阻。
where I’ is the current through the conductor in amperes, V is the potential difference across the conductor in volts, and R is the resistance of the conductor in ohms.
电与磁之间的关系促使许多研究人员通过将电线缠绕在铁芯上来构造电磁铁。当电流通过电线时,铁被极化并产生磁场。由于电线必须与铁芯和自身绝缘(否则会短路),并且电线没有绝缘层,因此大多数早期的电磁铁包含几个线圈,以使电线不会碰到自身,并使用清漆将电线与铁芯隔离。在纽约州奥尔巴尼工作的约瑟夫·亨利(1797-1878)于 1827 年创造了一种更强大的磁铁,他用丝线包裹电线,并将 10.6 米长的丝线缠绕在马蹄形铁芯上。这是一次非常成功的实验,亨利继续制造出越来越强大的磁铁,其中一个可以举起超过 900 公斤的重物。虽然这些磁铁显然有用,但他在电磁铁方面的其他工作将产生更深远的影响。 1831 年,他发明了一种振荡装置,利用两个磁线圈来吸引和排斥像跷跷板一样旋转的杆。(见图8.1。)电报就是由此诞生的,它是维护国家和商业帝国的重要工具,也是迈向电气和电子工业的第一步。
The relationship between electricity and magnetism led a number of researchers to construct electromagnets by wrapping wire around an iron core. When a current was run through the wire, the iron was polarized and produced a magnetic field. Since the wire had to be insulated from the core and from itself (or it would short circuit), and since wire did not come with an insulating layer, most early electromagnets contained few loops so that the wire would not touch itself, and varnish was used to insulate the wire from the iron core. Joseph Henry (1797–1878), working in Albany, New York, created a more powerful magnet in 1827 by covering wire with silk thread and winding 10.6 meters of this silk-covered wire around a horseshoe-shaped iron core. This was a very successful experiment, and Henry went on to create more and more powerful magnets, one of which could be used to lift over 900 kilograms. While these magnets clearly had utility, his other work on electromagnets would have more far-reaching implications. In 1831 he created an oscillating device that used two magnetic coils to attract and repel a bar pivoted like a seesaw. (See figure 8.1.) From this came the telegraph, a crucial tool for the maintenance of both national and business empires and the first step toward the electrical and electronics industries.
8.1亨利电动机(摘自《美国科学杂志》(1831 年))
8.1 HENRY’S ELECTRIC MOTOR FROM AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE (1831)
亨利后来成为新泽西学院(后来成为普林斯顿大学)的自然哲学教授。1846 年,他成为新成立的史密森学会的首任秘书,后来成为美国科学促进会主席(1849-50 年)和美国国家科学院院长(1868-78 年)。
Henry went on to become professor of natural philosophy at the College of New Jersey (which later became Princeton University). In 1846 he became the first secretary of the newly founded Smithsonian Institution and later became president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1849–50) and president of the National Academy of Science (1868–78).
亨利还发现磁和电之间的关系通过电磁感应双向起作用;根据这一发现,他在 1830 年发明了第一台发电机。通过在磁场中移动导线,导线中就会产生电流。尽管亨利可能是第一个发明发电机的人,但他并没有发表他的成果,因此该装置的科学功劳归于迈克尔·法拉第 (1791-1867)。
Henry also discovered that the relationship between magnetism and electricity worked both ways through electromagnetic induction; from this finding he created the first dynamo in 1830. By moving a wire through a magnetic field, a current was created in the wire. Although he was likely the first to create a dynamo, Henry did not publish his results, and so the scientific credit for the device went to Michael Faraday (1791–1867) instead.
法拉第的科学之路非同寻常。法拉第的父亲是铁匠,早年受教育有限,但他曾当过一名装订工的学徒,并且如饥似渴地阅读。在阅读了《大英百科全书》中有关电的文章后,他投身于科学。法拉第参加了汉弗莱·戴维爵士(1778-1829)的几次公开讲座,并与他通信。1812 年,戴维在一次实验室事故中暂时失明,他聘请法拉第担任助手,从此开始了这位年轻人在化学领域的科学工作。法拉第作为化学家取得了一些显著的成就,包括发现他所谓的氢重碳化物,也就是今天所称的苯。他最受欢迎的化学著作是《蜡烛的化学史》,这是为年轻人开设的六场系列讲座,后来于 1861 年出版成书。
Faraday’s path to science was an unusual one. The son of a blacksmith, his early education was limited, but he was apprenticed to a bookbinder and read voraciously. After reading the Encyclopaedia Britannica article on electricity, he devoted himself to science. Faraday attended several public lectures given by Sir Humphry Davy (1778–1829) and corresponded with him. In 1812 Davy was temporarily blinded in a laboratory accident and hired Faraday as his assistant, the beginning of the younger man’s scientific work in chemistry. Faraday had some notable successes as a chemist, including the discovery of what he called bicarburet of hydrogen, known today as benzene. His most popular chemical work was The Chemical History of a Candle, a series of six lectures for young people that was later published as a book in 1861.
尽管法拉第作为化学家取得了成功,但在 1821 年左右,他的研究工作逐渐从物质转向力。他确信电、磁、光、热和化学亲和力都是同一现象的各个方面,而且这种现象不是基于某种流体运动,而是一种振动形式。就像拨动小提琴弦会导致远处的匹配弦振动一样,法拉第认为电“振动”应该是可以检测到的。他拿了一个铁环,在一侧缠绕一圈线圈,将其连接到伏打电堆,在另一侧缠绕一圈匹配的线圈,连接到指南针,以显示磁场的存在。当通入电流时,指南针的指针会移动,这证明了感应原理。(见图8.2。)
Despite his success as a chemist, around 1821 he shifted his work more and more away from matter and toward forces. He was convinced that electricity, magnetism, light, heat, and chemical affinity were all aspects of the same phenomenon and that this phenomenon, rather than being based on some kind of fluid movement, was really a form of vibration. Just like a plucked violin string will cause a matching string to vibrate at a distance, Faraday reasoned that an electric “vibration” should be detectable. He took an iron ring and wrapped one coil of wire on one side to be connected to a voltaic pile and a matching coil of wire on the opposite side leading to a compass that would show the presence of a magnetic field. When the current was applied, the compass needle moved, demonstrating the principle of induction. (See figure 8.2.)
8.2法拉第铁环
8.2 FARADAY’S IRON RING
随后,法拉第通过在马蹄形磁铁两端之间旋转一个铜盘,证明了电和磁之间的关系是动态的。当铜盘运动时,会产生电流,但当铜盘静止时,不会产生电。只有通过磁铁的磁场,才会发生任何事情。换句话说,磁铁的真正能量存在于其周围的空间中,而不是磁铁本身,磁铁本身只会集中力。法拉第从这些实验中得出的结论是,电和磁可以理解为一种影响物质结构的应变(有点类似于挤压弹簧)。他在一项实验中证实了这个想法,在该实验中,他将偏振光穿过强磁场;偏振面发生了旋转,表明光已被磁场移动。正如他所想的那样,光是电磁现象的一个元素。然而,他对力场的解释并没有被同时代人接受,部分原因是在物理学越来越量化的方向上,法拉第的工作没有用清晰的数学术语来阐明。
Faraday then demonstrated that the relationship between electricity and magnetism was dynamic by spinning a copper disc between the ends of a horseshoe magnet. When the disc was in motion, a current was created, but when it was at rest, no electricity was generated. It was only by passing through the field of the magnet that anything happened. In other words, the real energy of the magnet was in the space around it, not within the magnet itself, which only concentrated the forces. Faraday argued from these experiments that electricity and magnetism could be understood as a kind of strain (somewhat analogous to squeezing a spring) that affected the structure of matter. He found confirmation for this idea in an experiment in which he passed polarized light through a strong magnetic field; the plane of polarization was rotated, indicating that the light had been moved by the field. As he had thought, light was one element of the electromagnetic phenomena. Yet his explanation of fields of force was not accepted by his contemporaries, partly because in the increasingly quantitative orientation of physics, Faraday’s work was not elucidated in clear mathematical terms.
这项任务由詹姆斯·克拉克·麦克斯韦(1831-79)承担。麦克斯韦不像牛顿那样早年才华横溢,但他的洞察力和数学技能使他的才华在 1854 年从三一学院毕业时得到了认可牛顿就读于剑桥大学卡文迪什学院。他后来在剑桥大学担任了一系列高级学术职务,最终于 1871 年成为第一位卡文迪什实验物理学教授,负责新卡文迪什实验室的设计。麦克斯韦并不是该职位的第一人选,但开尔文勋爵和瑞利勋爵(约翰·威廉·斯特拉特,1842-1919)都拒绝了。卡文迪什实验室以卡文迪什家族命名,该家族主要资助了最初的建设。亨利·卡文迪什研究过一系列主题,例如空气的性质(其中包括确定水是一种化合物)和测量地球的密度。他还研究过电,但没有发表过论文。卡文迪什是一所物理教学实验室,是自然科学荣誉学位考试新课程发展的关键组成部分,该课程于 1851 年在剑桥大学开始,旨在培养更多科学家与法国和德国竞争。卡文迪什大学至今仍是著名的教学和研究中心之一。
That task was taken up by James Clerk Maxwell (1831–79). Maxwell was not an early prodigy like Newton, but his insight and mathematical skills led to recognition of his talents by the time he graduated in 1854 from Trinity College, Cambridge, the same college Newton had attended. He went on to a series of senior academic appointments at Cambridge, ultimately becoming the first Cavendish Professor of Experimental Physics in 1871, when he was responsible for the design of the new Cavendish Laboratory. Maxwell was not the first choice for the position, but both Lord Kelvin and Lord Rayleigh (John William Strutt, 1842–1919) turned it down. The Cavendish Laboratory was named for the Cavendish family, who largely financed the original construction. Henry Cavendish had worked on a range of topics such as the nature of airs (among other things determining that water was a compound) and measuring the density of the Earth. He had also worked on electricity, but he did not publish. The Cavendish, a teaching laboratory in physics, was a key component in the development of a new course of studies known as the Natural Sciences Tripos, begun in 1851 at Cambridge to train more scientists to compete with the French and Germans. The Cavendish continues to operate today as one of the great centers of teaching and research.
麦克斯韦具有创建物理现象数学模型的卓越能力。他以法拉第场论及其精妙的实验为基础,为它们建立了坚实的数学基础。由于他认为场中的扰动以特定速度传播,因此他能够计算出电磁波的传播速度,即每秒 3.1 × 10 10厘米或约每秒 300,000 公里,相当于实验测定的光速。麦克斯韦得出结论,这不可能是巧合。他曾预测,电磁波谱将在远低于和远高于光的频率上被观察到,但他没能亲眼看到这一预测被证实。
Maxwell had the profound ability to create mathematical models of physical phenomena. He took Faraday’s field theory and its elegant experiments and set them on a sound mathematical footing. Because he argued that a disturbance in a field was propagated through it at a particular velocity, he was able to calculate the velocity that an electromagnetic wave traveled, which was 3.1 × 1010 centimeters per second or about 300,000 kilometers per second, equal to the experimentally determined speed of light. Maxwell concluded that this could not be a coincidence. He predicted, but did not live to see it proven, that the electromagnetic spectrum would be observed at frequencies far below and far above those of light.
麦克斯韦的工作将许多问题联系在一起,为物理学的许多方面指明了方向。它不仅将电、磁和光联系在一起,还将它们作为场和场中的波联系在一起。这破坏了牛顿关于光是粒子的观点,但与惠更斯和托马斯·杨的研究以来建立的光的波动性质的实验证据完全一致。因此,物理学的大问题似乎得到了妥善解决。由于场论,宇宙可以被看作一个巨大的熔炉,里面充满了波,这些波通过一种被称为以太的天体流体传播,粒子存在于以太中并在重力的影响下漂浮。如果这个系统比牛顿所设计的稍微复杂一些,它似乎运行平稳,而且在哲学上仍然是紧凑的;也就是说,宇宙是由少数几个可以用绝对数学术语表达的固定定律所支配的。
Maxwell’s work set the course for many aspects of physics by tying several problems together. It not only linked electricity, magnetism, and light but linked them as fields and waves in fields. This undermined the Newtonian view of light as particles but neatly accorded with experimental evidence for the wave nature of light that had been building since the work of Huygens and Thomas Young. Thus, the big questions of physics seemed to be solved in a tidy fashion. Because of field theory, the universe could be viewed as a great cauldron filled with waves that propagated through a celestial fluid known as ether in which particles existed and floated around under the influence of gravity. If the system was a bit more complex than Newton had laid out, it seemed to work smoothly and was still philosophically compact; that is, the universe was governed by a small number of fixed laws that could be expressed in absolute mathematical terms.
到 1879 年麦克斯韦去世时,科学界和工业界都与拿破仑时代末期大不相同。现在发明家的时代。蒸汽动力、电报、摄影、印刷和冶炼都引入了新技术,改变了世界各地人民的社会、经济和政治生活。工业化国家的物质世界从手工或小型工业产品转变为消费品和工业品的大规模生产和全球分销。(见图8.3中 1907 年的蒸汽机和发电机的照片。)
By the time of Maxwell’s death in 1879 both the scientific and the industrialized worlds were very different than at the end of the Napoleonic age. It was now the era of the inventor. Steam power, telegraphy, photography, printing, and smelting all introduced new technologies and transformed the social, economic, and political lives of people around the world. The material world in the industrialized countries changed from handmade or small industry products to mass production and global distribution of consumer and industrial goods. (See figure 8.3 for a photograph of a steam engine and dynamo from 1907.)
8.3蒸汽机和发电机(1907年)
8.3 STEAM ENGINE AND DYNAMO (1907)
资料来源:Cayambe(维基百科用户)。根据 CC-BY-SA 条款获得许可。
Source: Cayambe (Wikipedia user). Licensed under the terms of CC-BY-SA.
电是欧洲和北美社会转型的最重要因素之一。它从法国和美国沙龙中知识分子的好奇心转变为一种工业工具。它的第一个商业应用之一是电报。惠斯通和库克于 1831 年发明了第一台电报,将箭头指向字母,尽管专利和他们的发明优先权受到挑战。1833 年,数学家卡尔·高斯 (Karl Gauss, 1777–1855) 和威廉·韦伯 (Wilhelm Weber, 1804–91) 建立了一个模型电报系统,可将信号发送两公里远。1834 年,第一台商用发电机上市,电报才开始商业化。1837 年,塞缪尔·莫尔斯 (Samuel Morse, 1791–1872) 为他的电报版本和点划代码系统申请了专利。1844 年,华盛顿通过电报与巴尔的摩连接起来;1854 年,伦敦和巴黎连接起来;1858 年,第一条大西洋电缆铺设完毕。电报线路跟随铁路遍布全球,1861 年,纽约与旧金山连接起来。美国内战爆发后,电报所到之处,恐怖事件的消息不胫而走。记者发出的电报由报社使用蒸汽印刷机印刷,可以在几小时而不是几天或几周的时间内报道世界各地的事件。
Electricity was one of the most important factors in the transformation of European and North American society. It moved from being a curiosity for the intellectuals in the French and American salons to an industrial tool. One of its first commercial applications was the telegraph. Wheatstone and Cooke’s first telegraph in 1831 moved an arrow to point to letters, although the patent and their priority were challenged. In 1833 the mathematician Karl Gauss (1777–1855) and Wilhelm Weber (1804–91) built a model telegraph system that sent a signal over a distance of two kilometers. Telegraphy was made commercially viable when the first commercial electrical generator was marketed in 1834. In 1837 Samuel Morse (1791–1872) patented his version of the telegraph and his code system of dots and dashes. In 1844 Washington was linked to Baltimore by telegraph; London and Paris were linked in 1854; and the first Atlantic cable was laid in 1858. Telegraph lines followed the railways across the globe, and New York was connected to San Francisco in 1861. When the American Civil War began, news of the horrific events were circulated wherever the telegraph went. Telegrams sent by reporters were printed by newspapers using steam-driven presses and offered coverage of events around the world in hours rather than days or weeks.
世界各地的发明家开发电气设备的速度令人震惊,但即使电已经变成了一种商业产品,其本质仍然是个谜。法拉第和麦克斯韦将电视为振动或力场,通过导线和磁场相互作用产生电证实了这一观点。另一方面,从化学源(如电池)产生电表明电有物质基础。化学家们关注电解(包括通过施加电流发生的化学反应),这导致了关于电正性和电负性的理论。例如,带正电的钠与带负电的氯反应生成氯化钠。虽然电解的思想帮助科学家了解原子和分子相互作用的新方面并集中了电活动区域,但它并没有解决关于电的起源和性质的根本问题。
The speed of development of electrical devices by inventors all over the world was astounding, but even as electricity was being turned into a commercial product, its nature continued to be a mystery. Faraday and Maxwell had treated electricity as a vibration or field of force, and the generation of electricity by the interaction of conductive wire and magnetic fields corroborated this view. On the other hand, the generation of electricity from chemical sources (as in batteries) suggested that there was a material basis to electricity. Chemists were concerned about electrolysis (including chemical reactions via application of electrical currents), and that led to theories about electropositive and electronegative activity. For example, positive sodium reacted with negative chlorine to form sodium chloride. Although ideas about electrolysis helped scientists to understand new aspects of atomic and molecular interaction and focused the zone of electrical activity, it did not solve the underlying questions about the origin and nature of electricity.
部分解决方案远非直接,是现代科学中最具争议的假设之一,曾多次被拒绝和重新提出。1811 年,阿梅代奥·阿伏伽德罗 (1776-1856) 在《物理学杂志》上提出了一个假设,即在相同温度和压力下,所有气体的等体积包含相同数量的粒子。这是对约瑟夫·盖-吕萨克 (1778-1850) 关于气体定律的工作和道尔顿关于气体组合的工作提出的问题的解决方案。科学家们知道,一体积的氧气与两体积的氧气结合体积的氢气产生两体积的水蒸气。阿伏伽德罗推断,除非氧气实际上是一个分子,它分裂成两个原子(或他称之为“半分子”),每个原始氧气分子产生两个水分子(现在通常称为“双原子”氧气或O 2),否则这是不可能的。阿伏伽德罗假说最简单的形式是假设特定量中存在固定数量的原子或分子。这个量现在被称为“摩尔”,是物质的量,以克为单位,等于其原子量或分子量。确定这一基本信息对于理解材料的组成至关重要,但它也是理解材料形成方式的关键。为了使物质世界一致运转,特定物质的每个分子都必须由相同比例的相同元素组成,但如果不知道分子中每种元素的确切数量,就不可能理解元素如何连接在一起形成分子。弄清楚这些比例可以为我们提供一种工具,让我们明白为什么某些元素(例如氧和碳)结合形成许多化合物,而其他元素(例如金和银)与极少数其他元素结合形成分子。
Part of the solution was far from direct and was one of the most debated hypotheses in modern science, being rejected and revived several times. In 1811 Amedeo Avogadro (1776–1856) proposed in the Journal de physique the hypothesis that equal volumes of all gases at the same temperature and pressure contained the same number of particles. This was a resolution of problems presented by Joseph Gay-Lussac’s (1778–1850) work on laws of gases and by Dalton’s work concerning the combination of gases. Scientists knew that one volume of oxygen combined with two volumes of hydrogen to produce two volumes of water vapor. Avogadro reasoned that this could not be unless the oxygen was actually a molecule that broke up into two atoms (or “half-molecules” as he called them) producing two water molecules for every original oxygen molecule (what is now often called “diatomic” oxygen or O2). In its simplest form, Avogadro’s hypothesis posited a fixed number of atoms or molecules in a special quantity. This quantity is now referred to as a “mole” and is the amount of a substance with a mass in grams equal to its atomic or molecular weight. Determining this basic bit of information was essential to understanding the composition of materials, but it was also a key to understanding how materials formed. For the material world to function consistently, each molecule of a particular substance had to be formed of the same elements in the same proportions, but it was impossible to understand how the elements linked together to make molecules if the precise number of each element in a molecule was unknown. Figuring out the proportions provided a tool for figuring out why some elements such as oxygen and carbon combined to make many compounds, while others such as gold and silver combined with very few other elements to form molecules.
阿伏伽德罗假说并未受到欢迎,因为它依赖于同种粒子相互吸引,这与基于异种粒子吸引力的化合物亲和力理论相悖(例如磁铁的南北极吸引,而北极排斥)。 安培于 1814 年试图复兴阿伏伽德罗的想法,奥古斯特·洛朗和查尔斯·弗雷德里克·格哈德(1816-56)在 19 世纪 40 年代在有机化学中也这么做,但直到 1860 年斯坦尼斯劳·康尼查罗在卡尔斯鲁厄会议上散发了一本小册子《化学哲学教程大纲》,阿伏伽德罗假说才开始影响人们对确定和比较分子量和原子量问题的解决的思考。1卡尔斯鲁厄大会是第一次国际化学会议,当时的一些著名科学家出席了会议。这次会议的目的是试图制定命名的国际标准,并解决原子量问题。阿伏伽德罗假说提供了一种解决原子量问题的方法,最终每个人都会接受。
Avogadro’s hypothesis was not favorably received, because it depended on particles of the same kind being attracted to each other, which ran against the affinity theory of compounds based on the attraction of dissimilar particles (like the North and South poles of magnets attracting, while North to North repelled). Ampère attempted to revive Avogadro’s idea in 1814, as did Auguste Laurent and Charles Frédéric Gerhardt (1816–56) in organic chemistry in the 1840s, but it was not until 1860 when Stanislao Cannizzaro circulated a pamphlet, Sunto di un corso di filosofia chimica (Epitome of a Course of Chemical Philosophy), at the Karlsruhe Congress that Avogadro’s hypothesis began to affect thinking about the solution to the problem of determining and comparing molecular and atomic weight.1 The Karlsruhe Congress was the first international chemistry conference, and it was attended by some of the most important scientists of the day. The meeting had been called to try to develop international standards for nomenclature and to do something about the problem of atomic weights. Avogadro’s hypothesis offered a way to deal with the problem of atomic weights that everyone would eventually accept.
最初看似是物质问题的问题后来与电联系起来,因为物质可以带电荷,而电荷似乎与将不同元素保持在化合物中有关。1881 年,斯万特·奥古斯特·阿伦尼乌斯 (1859-1927) 来到斯德哥尔摩,在埃里克·埃德伦德 (1818-88) 的指导下研究溶液和电解质,此时,阿伏伽德罗的假说得到了更深入的理解。根据阿伦尼乌斯的说法,当电流通过熔融的氯化钠 (NaCl) 时,分子会分裂或解离。它的组成部分不是原子,而是他所谓的离子;钠带正电荷 (Na + ),氯带负电荷 (Cl – )。这些离子迁移到电极,钠迁移到阴极,氯迁移到阳极,在那里它们失去电荷:结果是原子(或元素)钠和原子氯。
What at first seemed to be a matter problem became linked to electricity because matter can have an electrical charge and that charge appears to have something to do with keeping different elements together in compounds. Avogadro’s hypothesis was much better understood by the time Svante August Arrhenius (1859–1927) arrived in Stockholm in 1881 to work on solutions and electrolytes under Eric Edlund (1818–88). According to Arrhenius, when a current was passed through molten sodium chloride (NaCl), the molecule broke apart or dissociated. Its parts were not atoms, but what he called ions; the sodium had a positive charge (Na+) and the chlorine a negative charge (Cl–). These ions migrated to the electrical poles, sodium to the cathode and chlorine to the anode, where they lost their charge: the result was atomic (or elemental) sodium and atomic chlorine.
这表明原子和原子团本身可能带有电荷,而不仅仅是受到电活动的影响。这引发的问题和它解答的问题一样多,因为它似乎需要两个不相容的物体的结合——道尔顿原子和麦克斯韦电波。一种解决方案是将电想象成一种粒子或不可分割的单位。爱尔兰物理学家乔治·约翰斯通·斯托尼 (George Johnstone Stoney,1826-1911) 计算了他最初称之为“电原子”的量级,并于 1891 年提出用“电子”一词来表示这种电荷单位。
This suggested that atoms and groups of atoms might themselves carry an electrical charge rather than merely being affected by electrical activity. This raised as many questions as it answered, because it seemed to require the combination of two incompatible objects – Daltonian atoms and Maxwellian electric waves. One solution was to picture electricity as a kind of particle, or indivisible unit. The Irish physicist George Johnstone Stoney (1826–1911) calculated the magnitude of what he initially called the “atom of electricity,” and in 1891 he proposed the term “electron” for this unit of electrical charge.
一些科学家将电想象成一种粒子,而另一些科学家则试图通过重新创造原子来解决这个问题。笛卡尔粒子、牛顿粒子或道尔顿原子都是小的、离散的、不可分割的粒子,它们以特定的、虽然不太清楚的方式相互作用。虽然这对研究整体物质的人来说是一个有用的概念,但它给研究磁性、光波、热等的人带来了问题。威廉·麦克夸恩·兰金 (1820-72) 于 1849 年开发了一种基于涡流的原子模型,开尔文勋爵 (Lord Kelvin) 于 1867 年也开发了一种基于涡流的原子模型。开尔文认为涡流原子具有完美的弹性,可以从这个动力学模型中推导出许多重要的条件,例如热膨胀和光谱线。
While some scientists were picturing electricity as a kind of particle, others tried to solve the problem by recreating atoms. Cartesian particles, Newtonian corpuscles, or Daltonian atoms were all small, discrete, and indivisible particles that interacted in specific, if somewhat unclear, ways. While this was a useful concept for those studying gross matter, it presented problems for those studying magnetism, light waves, heat, and so on. A different model of the atom based on a vortex was developed by William Macquorn Rankine (1820–72) in 1849 and also by Lord Kelvin in 1867. Kelvin argued that the vortex atom was perfectly elastic and that a number of important conditions, such as thermal expansion and spectral lines, could be derived from this kinetic model.
这些新思想源于对热的研究。热,或后来称为热力学,是牛顿未涉及的另一个领域。在亚里士多德体系中,热是一种元素。在整个十八世纪,人们认为热是火或燃素的本质,直到拉瓦锡用他细致的实验推翻了燃素理论。在拉普拉斯的帮助下,他引入了热质,这是一种“不可计量的流体”。热质的概念确实有助于解释热的表观运动以及热与热之间的差异。和温度。热量被认为是从温暖区域(充满热量)流向凉爽区域(没有热量)。热量代表给定物体中的总热量,而温度则测量热量的浓度,因此,例如,湖泊的温度可能比沸腾的水壶低,但它含有的热量要多得多。
These new ideas originated in work on heat. Heat, or thermodynamics as it was later called, was another one of the areas that Newton had not addressed. In the Aristotelian system heat was an element. Through the eighteenth-century heat was considered to be the essence of fire or phlogiston, until Lavoisier disproved the phlogiston theory with his careful experiments. With the help of Laplace, he introduced caloric, which was an “imponderable fluid.” The idea of caloric did help to explain the apparent movement of heat and the difference between heat and temperature. Caloric was thought to flow from warm areas (full of caloric) to cool areas (empty of caloric). Heat represented the total volume of caloric in a given body, while temperature measured the concentration of caloric, so that, for example, a lake could have a cooler temperature than a boiling kettle, but it contained far more caloric.
热质的概念虽然巧妙,但与牛顿物理学并不相符,而且,由于创造了一种新的物质,它也违背了 19 世纪将物理属性置于物体内部而不是影响物体的其他类型的事物的趋势。早在 1738 年,著名的瑞士数学和物理学家族的丹尼尔·伯努利 (1700-82) 就提出了一种基于牛顿原子运动原理的压力理论。粒子运动得越快,压力就越大。该理论被认为不太可能,因此几乎被忽视了。热量可能与原子状态有关,必须以另一种方式证明它才能引起人们的注意。对热质说的批判来自本杰明·汤普森,即朗福德伯爵(1753-1814 年)。他的职业生涯丰富多彩,曾为英国担任间谍、为巴伐利亚选帝侯服务(选帝侯封他为神圣罗马帝国的朗福德伯爵)、建造更好的壁炉、娶拉瓦锡的遗孀(婚姻只维持了一年)以及监督大炮的生产。朗福德最初支持热质说,事实上,他还在该理论中加入了“冷辐射”(冷射线),但正是对大炮钻孔设备的观察,使他否定了热质说。他观察到,钝的钻头虽然可以无限旋转,但无法切穿大炮的铁,但会继续产生热量。如果热质是一种物质,它最终应该会从铁中排出,但事实并非如此。 1798 年,他发表了《摩擦激发热源的实验研究》。该论文成为物理学的经典论文。热质理论虽然被证明是错误的,但它导致了热量的量化,而朗福德的工作通过将功(动能)直接与热量联系起来,推动了热量的研究。
As ingenious as the idea of caloric was, it did not accord well with Newtonian physics, and, by creating a new class of matter, it also went against the trend in the nineteenth century to locate physical properties within objects rather than as additional types of things that affected objects. As early as 1738 Daniel Bernoulli (1700–82) of the famous Swiss mathematics and physics family had presented a theory of pressure based on Newtonian principles about the movement of atoms. The faster the particles moved, the greater the pressure. The theory was seen as improbable and was mostly ignored. That heat might have something to do with the state of atoms had to be demonstrated another way before it gained attention. The attack on caloric came from Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (1753–1814), a man with a wildly varied career that included spying for Britain, service to the Elector of Bavaria (who created him Count Rumford of the Holy Roman Empire), building a better fireplace, marrying Lavoisier’s widow (the marriage lasted only one year), and overseeing the production of cannons. Rumford had initially supported the caloric theory of heat and in fact had added “frigorific radiation” (cold rays) to the theory, but it was his observation of cannon-boring equipment that led him to reject caloric. He observed that a dull drill bit, although spinning indefinitely, could not cut through the iron of a cannon but would continue to produce heat. If caloric was a substance, it should eventually be emptied out of the iron, but it was not. In 1798 he published Experimental Inquiry Concerning the Source of Heat Excited by Friction. It became a classic paper in physics. Caloric theory, although proven to be wrong, had led to the quantification of heat, and Rumford’s work advanced the study of heat by directly linking work (kinetic action) to heat.
1824 年,尼古拉·莱昂纳尔·萨迪·卡诺 (Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot,1796-1832 年) 发表了《火的动力思考》 ( Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu ),在书中,他科学地分析了热机或通过热量从一个区域移动到另一个区域来做功的设备的理论,例如蒸汽机中蒸汽的加热和冷凝。尽管基于热量理论,但他证明了热量做功类似于水从高处落到低处。由此,人们可以计算出热机的效率,而热机的效率非常低。在冷却蒸汽机中蒸汽降低 100° 摄氏度(即蒸汽在通过活塞并凝结成水时从 150°“降至”50°),效率仅为 0.236,这意味着不到四分之一的热量可以转化为功。卡诺的工作非常出色,但他在 36 岁时死于霍乱,他的工作直到焦耳、开尔文和克劳修斯复兴后才广为人知。
In 1824 Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot (1796–1832) produced his Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu (Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire), in which he scientifically analyzed the theory of heat engines or devices in which work was done by the movement of heat from one area to another, such as the heating and condensing of steam in a steam engine. Although based on the caloric theory of heat, he demonstrated that work from heat was analogous to water falling from a high point to a lower point. From this, it became possible to calculate the efficiency of heat engines, which was remarkably low. In a steam engine that cooled steam by 100° centigrade (that is, the steam “fell” from 150° to 50° as it passed through the pistons and condensed as water), the efficiency was only 0.236, which means that less than a quarter of the heat could be converted into work. Carnot’s work was brilliant, but he died of cholera at the age of 36, and his work was not widely known until revived by Joule, Kelvin, and Clausius.
詹姆斯·普雷斯科特·焦耳 (James Prescott Joule,1818-89 年) 于 1843 年在 BAAS 上宣读了一篇论文,正式确立了功与热之间的关系。这篇题为“关于磁电的热效应和热的机械值”的论文首次量化了温度升高所对应的机械热当量。他认为,要将 454 克水的温度升高 1 华氏度,需要做 255 米/454 克的功。换句话说,如果将 454 克的重物移动 255 米,所需的功如果转化为热量,将使一磅水的温度升高 1 度。这篇论文没有得到科学界的回应,但他坚持不懈,不断完善实验。1845 年,他向 BAAS 提交了“关于热的机械当量”,并给出了新的计算结果 250 米/454 克。通过使用由落锤驱动的明轮(当它穿过一定体积的水时会产生摩擦力),他在 1850 年将数字改进为 236 米/454 克。(见图8.4。)此时,他的工作受到了更多的好评。
The relationship between work and heat was formalized by James Prescott Joule (1818–89) in a paper he read before the BAAS in 1843. Entitled “On the Calorific Effects of Magneto-electricity and on the Mechanical Value of Heat,” it offered the first quantification of the mechanical equivalent of heat corresponding to a rise in temperature. He argued that to raise the temperature of 454 grams of water by one degree Fahrenheit required the expenditure of 255 meters/454 grams of work. In other words, the amount of work necessary to move a 454 gram weight 255 meters would, if converted into heat, raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree. The paper met with silence from the scientific community, but he persevered and refined his experiments. In 1845 he presented “On the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat” to the BAAS, with his new calculation of 250 meters/454 grams. By using a paddlewheel (which produced friction as it moved through a fixed volume of water) driven by a falling weight, he refined his figures in 1850 to 236 meters/454 grams. (See figure 8.4.) By this time, his work was receiving more favorable attention.
8.4焦耳的机械当量热图
8.4 JOULE’S DIAGRAM OF THE MECHANICAL EQUIVALENT TO HEAT
摘自《热的新理论》,《哈珀斯新月刊》第 39 卷(1869 年):第 327 页。
From “A New Theory of Heat,” Harpers New Monthly Magazine 39 (1869): 327.
焦耳继续与开尔文勋爵合作研究热量,并帮助发展了气体动力学理论。该理论将热量和压力与气体中粒子的运动联系起来,声称粒子的平均速度与气体的温度直接相关。鲁道夫·克劳修斯 (1822-88) 也独立得出了关于原子运动的相同结论。他还在 1865 年引入了“熵”一词来描述能量的耗散,能量耗散总是随着时间的推移而增加。凭借克劳修斯的工作,气体动力学理论(即粒子运动与系统热量之间的关系)得以建立。热量不是一种神秘的流体,而是原子和分子的运动。此外,所有移动的原子的运动都可以测量,至少在统计上可以测量,这意味着热量可以作为解释物质状态的重要工具。
Joule went on to work with Lord Kelvin on the study of heat and helped develop the kinetic theory of gases. That theory would link heat and pressure to the motion of particles in a gas with the claim that the average speed of the particles related directly to the temperature of the gas. Independently, Rudolf Clausius (1822–88) arrived at the same conclusions about the motion of atoms. He also introduced the term “entropy” in 1865 to describe the dissipation of energy, which always increased over time. With Clausius’s work, the kinetic theory of gases – that is, the relationship between the motion of the particles and the heat of the system – was established. Heat was not a mysterious fluid but the motion of atoms and molecules. Further, the motions of all those atoms moving around could be measured, at least statistically, and that meant heat could be used as a key tool for explaining states of matter.
气体动能论建立在原子和分子的存在基础之上,因此它成为一种物质理论的组成部分。1865 年,约瑟夫·洛施密特(Joseph Loschmidt,1821-95 年)应用该理论计算原子直径,并利用该值确定单位体积气体中的分子数。克劳修斯设想将分子的“能量”分为其平移运动(从一个地方移动到另一个地方)、振动运动和旋转运动的贡献。基于此,他表明氢、氧和其他元素在气态下的热容量与它们的分子是双原子的理论一致,从而为确定原子量的蒸汽密度法提供了支持。
The kinetic theory of gases was based on the existence of atoms and molecules, so it became an integral part of matter theory. In 1865, Joseph Loschmidt (1821–95) applied the theory to calculate the diameter of an atom and used this value to determine the number of molecules in a unit volume of gas. Clausius envisioned the “energy” of a molecule partitioned into contributions from its translational motion (movement from place to place), vibrational motion, and rotational motion. Based on this, he showed that the heat capacities of hydrogen, oxygen, and other elements in the gaseous state were consistent with the theory that their molecules were diatomic, lending support to the vapor density method for determining atomic weights.
所有这些复杂工作的现代表述可以概括为两条出现于 19 世纪 40 年代和 50 年代的一般定律。第一定律将能量定义为物理学中一个新的基本概念。它指出,热量是一种能量形式,在任何封闭系统中,总能量都是恒定的。因此,在现实世界中,不可能制造出一台没有外部能源就能持续运转的机器,因为用于驱动机器的能量会被耗散(例如通过摩擦),从而无法用于运行机器。换句话说,你从系统中获得的能量不可能比你投入的能量多。2
The modern presentation of all this complex work can be encapsulated in two general laws that emerged in the 1840s and 1850s. The first law defined energy as a new fundamental concept in the physical sciences. It states that heat is a form of energy and that, in any closed system, the total amount of energy is constant. Thus, it would be impossible to create a machine in the real world that worked continually without an external source of energy, since the energy used to work the machine would be dissipated (by friction, for example) and thus become unavailable to run the machine. Another way of saying this is that you can’t get more energy out of a system than you put into it.2
热力学第二定律,即熵定律,指出在任何物理化学过程中,不可能将所有能量都转化为功。一些能量总是会转化为热量,因此无法用于做功。此外,在任何封闭系统中,热量只会朝一个方向传递,即从较热的区域传递到较冷的区域。随着时间的推移,如果没有外部能量源,熵会使所有物体的温度都相同。这就是为什么保温瓶既能完美工作,又不能完美工作的原因。保温瓶通过降低从热内部到较冷外部的热量传递率,使热饮保温更长时间,但由于屏障并不完美(也不可能完美),保温瓶中的物品最终会冷却到周围世界的温度。无论是保温瓶中的咖啡,还是整个宇宙,熵都适用。这只是时间问题。
The second law of thermodynamics, the entropy law, says that in any physico-chemical process, it is impossible to convert all the energy into work. Some energy is always converted into heat and thus is not available for work. Further, in any closed system, heat will transfer only in one direction, from a warmer to a cooler region. Over time, entropy will make everything the same temperature if there is no external energy source. This is why a thermos bottle both works and doesn’t work perfectly. The thermos, by reducing the rate of transfer of heat from the hot interior to the cooler exterior keeps the hot beverage warm longer, but because the barrier is not perfect (nor can it be), the contents of the thermos will eventually cool to the temperature of the surrounding world. Whether it is coffee in a thermos, or the whole universe, entropy applies. It is just a matter of time.
这一想法的意义远不止物理学。开尔文利用这一理论,根据加热的镍铁球的冷却速度估算地球的年龄。这表明地球对于达尔文的进化论来说太年轻了,并成为达尔文进化论的主要反对意见。
This idea had wider implications than just physics. Kelvin used this theory to estimate the age of the Earth based on the rate of cooling seen in a heated sphere of nickel-iron. This suggested an Earth too young for Darwin’s theory of evolution and became a major objection to Darwinian evolution.
尽管气体动能论将热与粒子运动联系起来,增强了人们对原子的信仰,但一些科学家开始相信能量——而不是物质——才是真正的物理现实,也是物理科学的适当基础。越来越多的科学家认为原子根本不存在物质对象。除了开尔文的涡旋模型外,麦克斯韦还声称,数学模型不需要假设原子的实际存在,而威拉德·吉布斯 (1839-1903) 则提出了没有粒子的热力学理论。最直言不讳的原子概念反对者之一是恩斯特·马赫 (1838-1916),他不仅认为原子论所描述的原子是假设的,不需要存在,而且对它们的理论化可能会产生误导。马赫是实证主义的主要支持者之一,实证主义哲学认为唯一可靠的知识形式是科学的,源于可观察或经验证据。由于原子无法被观察到,而且在物理学的许多方面都不是必需的,因此它们属于形而上学的范畴,形而上学是哲学的一个分支,它推测自然的起源和目的,而不是研究自然如何运作。根据马赫的说法,科学中没有任何东西可以基于这种推测。
Although the kinetic theory of gases bolstered belief in atoms by relating heat to the motion of particles, some scientists were coming to believe that energy – not matter – was the genuine physical reality and the appropriate basis of physical science. An increasing number of scientists argued that atoms did not exist as material objects at all. In addition to Kelvin’s vortex model, Maxwell claimed that the actual existence of atoms need not be assumed for mathematical models to work, and Willard Gibbs (1839–1903) worked out his theory of thermodynamics without particles. One of the most outspoken opponents of the idea of atoms was Ernst Mach (1838–1916), who argued not only that atoms as described by atomism were hypothetical and need not exist but that theorizing about them might be misleading. Mach was one of the leading proponents of positivism, a philosophy that argued that the only reliable form of knowledge was scientific, arising from observable or empirical evidence. Since atoms could not be observed and were unnecessary for many aspects of physics, they fell into the category of metaphysics, a branch of philosophy that speculated about the origin and purpose of nature rather than looking at how nature functioned. According to Mach, nothing in science could be based on such speculation.
反唯物主义思想甚至在化学家中也有支持者,德国颇具影响力的物理化学家威廉·奥斯特瓦尔德(1853-1932)和法国著名化学家马塞兰·贝特洛(1827-1907)和亨利·勒夏特列(1850-1936)也反对原子论。他们支持能量学体系,根据该体系,物质必须形成一个连续体,因为所有“物质”都必须是能量谱的一部分。能量学理论以热力学为基础,并得到光的波动理论的支持。
The anti-materialist idea even had supporters among chemists, with the influential physical chemist Wilhelm Ostwald (1853–1932) in Germany and such notable French chemists as Marcellin Berthelot (1827–1907) and Henri Le Chatelier (1850–1936) also opposed to atomism. They supported the Energetik system, according to which matter had to form a continuum, as all “matter” had to be part of the spectrum of energy. Energetik theory was based on thermodynamics and reinforced by the wave theory of light.
许多支持能量理论的人自称是物理化学家。1887 年,奥斯特瓦尔德与阿伦尼乌斯和雅各布斯·亨利库斯·范特霍夫 (1852-1911) 共同创办了《物理化学杂志》,该杂志成为这一新领域的领先杂志。化学和物理学开始在机构和研究领域上分离。物理化学试图使用热力学和能量的概念来解释化学反应性和物质的各种物理行为,从而弥合了这一差距。尽管物理化学对物质结构和力的作用提供了一些深刻的见解,但它并没有被整个化学界所接受。一些化学家反对,因为它过于依赖定量和数学分析,而这似乎是多余的或不确定。其他人,尤其是那些从事有机化学工作的人,发现物理化学家提出的问题对于他们的工作来说根本就没有必要。
Many supporters of the Energetik theory called themselves physical chemists. In 1887 Ostwald, along with Arrhenius and Jacobus Henricus van ’t Hoff (1852–1911), founded the Zeitschrift für physikalische chemie (Journal of Physical Chemistry), which became the leading journal in this new field. Chemistry and physics were beginning to separate both institutionally and in terms of areas of research. Physical chemistry bridged the gap by attempting to use the concepts of thermodynamics and energy to account for chemical reactivities and various physical behaviors of substances. Although physical chemistry provided some profound insights into the structure of matter and the role of forces, it was not embraced by the whole chemistry community. Some chemists objected because it depended so heavily on quantitative and mathematical analysis that seemed either superfluous or uncertain. Others, particularly those working in organic chemistry, found that the questions asked by physical chemists were simply unnecessary for their work.
物质和能量之间的关系正在产生新的难题。例如,当电流通过水时,水会分解成氧气和氢气,但众所周知,这两种元素在非常高的温度下会分解。电流通过固体似乎对导体没有影响,而它会导致液体分解。在正常压力下,让电流通过气体的实验要么不起作用,要么需要非常高的电压,然后导致剧烈的火花甚至爆炸。如果物质是一种幻觉,那么物理学家就必须解释能量、力场和波如何相互作用,从而产生一个看似物质的宇宙。如果物质和能量是离散的,那么电荷是如何从物质中产生的?解决这些问题需要一种研究组成部分的新方法,这意味着需要新的实验室工具。
The relationship between matter and energy was creating new puzzles. For example, water broke down into oxygen and hydrogen when a current was passed through it, but it was also known that these two elements would dissociate at very high temperatures. Electricity passing through a solid seemed to have no effect on the conductor, while it caused decomposition in liquids. Experiments that passed a current through gases at normal pressure either did not work or required very high voltage, which then resulted in violent sparking or even explosions. If matter was an illusion, then physicists would have to explain how energy, fields of force, and waves interacted to give what seemed to be a material universe. If matter and energy were discrete, how was an electrical charge generated from matter? What was needed to resolve these issues was a new way to study the component parts, and that meant new laboratory tools.
在极低的压力下,电流会通过气体,但直到吹玻璃工匠海因里希·盖斯勒(Heinrich Geissler,1814-79 年)发明了一种生产优质真空管的方法后,人们才开始研究这种现象。1858 年,尤利乌斯·普吕克(Julius Plücker,1801-68 年)注意到,当电流在真空管内的电极之间通过时,阴极(负极)上会出现绿色光辉。无论端子使用什么金属,这种光辉都是相同的,因此他得出结论,这是一种电现象,而不是电极材料的特性。普吕克还证明,发光会受到放置在其附近的磁铁的影响。
At very low pressure electricity would pass through gases, but it was not until the glassblower Heinrich Geissler (1814–79) devised a method of producing a good vacuum tube that research could be conducted on the phenomenon. In 1858 Julius Plücker (1801–68) noticed that when a current was passed between electrodes inside a vacuum tube, a greenish glow appeared on the cathode (negative terminal). This glow was the same regardless of the metal used for the terminal, so he concluded it was an electrical phenomenon rather than a property of the material of the electrode. Plücker also demonstrated that the luminescence was affected by a magnet placed near it.
继普吕克之后,德国的约翰·威廉·希托夫 (Johann Wilhelm Hittorf,1824-1914) 和英国的威廉·克鲁克斯 (William Crookes,1823-1919) 也发现了这种现象。1869 年,希托夫(曾是普吕克的学生)证明,任何被投射到真空中的东西都会沿直线传播,如果路径上有障碍物,就会投下阴影。尤金·戈德斯坦 (Eugen Goldstein,1850-1930) 证实了希托夫的发现,他将这种辐射命名为Kathodenstrahlen或阴极射线。克鲁克斯独立发现了相同的结果。他还试图通过在管内放置一个桨轮来观察射线是否施加了力。阴极射线使桨轮远离阴极并朝向阳极滚动。由此,他认为射线实际上是具有一定质量的粒子,尽管后来表明,实际上是微量气体分子导致桨轮旋转。
Plücker was followed by Johann Wilhelm Hittorf (1824–1914) in Germany and William Crookes (1823–1919) in Britain. In 1869 Hittorf (who had been Plücker’s student) demonstrated that whatever was being projected through the vacuum traveled in straight lines and could cast a shadow if there was an obstacle in its path. Hittorf’s findings were confirmed by Eugen Goldstein (1850–1930), who named the radiation Kathodenstrahlen or cathode rays. Crookes independently found the same results. He also attempted to see if the rays exerted a force by placing a paddlewheel inside the tube. The cathode rays rolled the paddlewheel away from the cathode and toward the anode. From this he argued that the rays were really particles with a definite mass, although it was later shown that it was, in fact, the trace gas molecules that caused the paddlewheel to rotate.
然而,阴极射线的研究并未解决原子组成问题。对于物理化学家(尤其是德国的化学家)来说,射线的行为似乎证实了宇宙的波动性,而在英国,克鲁克斯的研究则被视为证实了物质的粒子性。
Work with cathode rays did not resolve the problem of atomic composition, however. For physical chemists (particularly in Germany), the behavior of the rays seemed to confirm the wave nature of the universe, while in Britain Crookes’s work was seen as confirming the particle nature of matter.
在德国,海因里希·鲁道夫·赫兹(Heinrich Rudolf Hertz,1857-94 年)继续探索麦克斯韦关于波的理论。他设计了一个巧妙的实验,证明电磁辐射可以通过让电流跳过空气中的小间隙产生电火花来产生、传播和远距离检测。为了检测波,他使用了一根两端几乎接触的矩形导线。如果原始火花产生的电磁辐射经过接收导线的矩形,它应该会产生电流并导致火花穿过小间隙,事实也是如此。(见图8.5。)这些“赫兹波”(即后来的无线电波)验证了麦克斯韦的想法,扩展了电磁辐射的频谱和通过实验检查这种现象的能力。
In Germany, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857–94) continued to explore Maxwell’s reasoning about waves. He created an elegant experiment to demonstrate that electromagnetic radiation could be generated, broadcast, and detected at a distance by making electricity jump a small gap in the air, thus producing an electric spark. To detect the waves, he used a rectangle of wire with the two ends almost touching. If electromagnetic radiation created by the original spark passed over the rectangle of receiving wire, it should produce a current and cause a spark to cross the small gap, which it did. (See figure 8.5.) These “Hertzian waves,” or radio waves as they became known, validated Maxwell’s ideas and extended both the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation and the ability to examine the phenomenon experimentally.
8.5赫兹火花隙实验
8.5 HERTZ’S SPARK GAP EXPERIMENT
威廉·康拉德·伦琴 (1845-1923) 发现 X 射线后,辐射光谱进一步扩展。1895 年,伦琴在研究紫外线时,使用了阴极射线管和涂有氰亚铂酸钡的纸,这种纸在紫外线下会发出荧光。当他用黑纸盖住放电管时,涂纸仍然发光。即使放在隔壁房间,当电流在阴极管中流动时,涂纸也会发光。射线似乎源自阴极射线撞击管端的玻璃。人们检查了多种材料以确定这种神秘射线的作用。材料越致密,穿透力越小。当伦琴将照相底片暴露在射线下时,他发现它们记录了图像。最早的“伦琴照片”之一是他妻子的手,清晰地显示了骨头和模糊的肉轮廓。这一发现的潜在医学用途很快就显现出来,X射线的首次医学应用是在它被发现几个月后发生的。
The radiation spectrum was further expanded by the discovery of X-rays by Wilhelm Konrad Röntgen (1845–1923). In 1895 Röntgen, investigating ultraviolet light, used a cathode ray tube and paper coated with barium platinocyanide that fluoresced if exposed to ultraviolet. When he covered the discharge tube in black paper, the coated paper still glowed. Even when placed in an adjoining room, the coated paper glowed when the current ran in the cathode tube. The rays seemed to originate from the glass at the end of the tube where the cathode rays struck. A range of materials were examined to determine the action of the mysterious rays. The denser the material, the less penetration was found. When Röntgen exposed photographic plates to the rays, he discovered that they recorded images. One of the first “röntgenograms” was of his wife’s hand and clearly showed the bones and a faint outline of the flesh. The potential medical use for the discovery was immediately apparent, and the first medical use of X-rays took place only a few months after their discovery.
如果没有摄影术的发明,伦琴的工作和 X 射线的医学应用就不可能实现。尼塞福尔·尼埃普斯 (1765-1833) 被认为在 1825 年左右创造了第一张永久照片。他的系统由路易斯·达盖尔 (1787-1851) 和其他人改进。到 1884 年,乔治·伊士曼 (1854-1932) 发明了胶片摄影,直到数字成像出现之前,它一直是现代摄影的基础。摄影可能是商业发明的最佳例子,它随后被带入实验室,成为从天文学到细胞生物学等各个领域的工具。摄影的使用为研究人员提出了一个有趣的哲学问题,即实验可靠性和客观性的极限,因为他们无法获得胶片的化学成分(商业机密),因此无法控制实验的所有变量。
Röntgen’s work and the medical application of X-rays would not have been possible without the invention of photography. Nicéphore Niépce (1765–1833) is credited with creating the first permanent photograph around 1825. His system was improved by Louis Daguerre (1787–1851) and others. By 1884 George Eastman (1854–1932) had introduced film photography, which remained the foundation of modern photography until the introduction of digital imaging. Photography is perhaps the best example of a commercial invention that was then brought into the laboratory, where it became a tool for everything from astronomy to cell biology. The use of photography raises an interesting philosophical issue for investigators about the limits of experimental reliability and objectivity, since they did not have access to the chemical composition of the film (a trade secret) and therefore could not control all the variables for their experiments.
马克斯·冯·劳厄 (1879-1960) 后来的研究表明,X 射线具有与光相同的基本电磁特性,但频率要高得多,晶体会衍射 X 射线并产生一致的图案。威廉·亨利·布拉格 (1862-1942) 和他的儿子威廉·劳伦斯·布拉格 (1890-1971) 随后利用这个想法创建了晶体学研究,通过分析 X 射线衍射图像来绘制晶体的内部结构。这项技术对许多领域产生了重大影响,尤其是作为 DNA 结构的线索。冯·劳厄工作的另一个发展是卡尔·曼内·格奥尔格·西格巴恩 (1886-1978) 创造了 X 射线光谱学,通过检查物质加热时发射的电磁波谱,可以更好地了解元素并确定材料成分。如果一种物质被加热,它会产生一致且特有的光图案。这对于识别元素很有用,甚至可以用于确定恒星的组成。
Later work by Max von Laue (1879–1960) demonstrated that X-rays had the same fundamental electromagnetic properties as light, but at a much higher frequency, and that crystals would diffract X-rays and produce a consistent pattern. This idea was then used by William Henry Bragg (1862–1942) and his son William Lawrence Bragg (1890–1971) to create the study of crystallography, which mapped the interior structure of crystals by the analysis of X-ray diffraction images. This technique had major consequences in a wide range of fields, particularly as the clue to the structure of DNA. The other development from von Laue’s work was the creation by Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn (1886–1978) of X-ray spectroscopy, which allowed a better understanding of the elements and a method of determining the composition of materials by the examination of the electromagnetic spectrum emitted by matter when heated. If a substance was heated, it produced a consistent and characteristic pattern of light. This was useful for identifying elements and would even be used to determine the composition of stars.
伦琴因发现 X 射线而获奖无数,包括 1901 年的诺贝尔物理学奖,这是该奖项首次颁发。该奖项以阿尔弗雷德·伯恩哈德·诺贝尔 (Alfred Bernhard Nobel,1833-96 年) 及其家人的名字命名,成为诺贝尔物理学奖史上最负盛名的奖项。科学。诺贝尔是一位自学成才的科学家,他对与爆炸物有关的化学分支特别感兴趣。诺贝尔财富的基础是 1867 年获得专利的炸药和一系列其他爆炸产品,包括无烟火药。在运河建设、铁路建设和大规模采矿等大型工程项目时代,工业炸药需求量很大,但它们极其危险。诺贝尔的产品稳定且更可预测。随着殖民帝国时代欧洲军事力量的迅速扩张,炸药的军事应用也在增加。
Röntgen was showered with awards for his discovery of X-rays, including the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901, the first year the prizes were awarded. Named after Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833–96) and his family, the prizes became the most prestigious award in science. Nobel was a self-taught scientist, who was particularly interested in the branch of chemistry dealing with explosives. The foundation of the Nobel fortune was dynamite, patented in 1867, and a range of other explosive products including smokeless powder. Industrial explosives were in high demand in the age of big engineering projects such as canal building, rail construction, and large-scale mining, but they were extremely dangerous. Nobel’s products were stable and far more predictable. Military applications for explosives were also on the rise as European military forces expanded rapidly in the age of colonial empires.
8.6伦琴 (RÖNTGEN) 拍摄的阿尔弗雷德·冯·科利克 (Alfred Von Kölliker) 手部 X 射线照片,1896 年
8.6 RÖNTGEN’S X-RAY OF ALFRED VON KÖLLIKER’S HAND, 1896
诺贝尔将自己从炸药行业赚来的巨额财富中的大部分捐献出来,设立了一系列科学、和平和文学奖项。他希望奖励那些为“人类带来最大利益”的人们。人们猜测,他设立这些奖项是为了回应那些指责他的财富来自死亡和破坏的批评。诺贝尔物理学奖、化学奖、生理学或医学奖、和平奖和文学奖每年颁发一次,由特别委员会评选。瑞典文学院负责文学奖,瑞典皇家科学院负责物理学奖、化学奖和生理学/医学奖。和平奖由挪威议会设立的委员会评选。3由于该奖项制度需要多个学院和两个政府的协调,因此在诺贝尔 1895 年去世后,该奖项的组织花了数年时间。
Nobel left much of his vast fortune from the explosives industry for the creation of a series of prizes in science, peace, and literature. He wanted to reward those whose work conferred the “greatest benefit on mankind.” People have speculated that he created the prizes in response to the criticism that his fortune was gained by death and destruction. The Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, peace, and literature were to be awarded annually and selected by special committees. The Swedish Academy oversaw the literature prize, while the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences was responsible for physics, chemistry, and physiology/medicine. The peace prize was selected by a committee established by the Norwegian Parliament.3 Because the prize system required the coordination of several academies and two governments, it took several years after Nobel’s death in 1895 to organize.
尽管有人认为诺贝尔奖并不总是颁发给最优秀的候选人,但科学奖通常颁发给那些发现或工作对学科乃至整个科学领域产生重大影响的人。它们也是公众接触科学的渠道,因为这些奖项过去和现在都是重大新闻事件。获得诺贝尔奖已成为民族自豪感的体现。除了声望和金牌外,获奖者还将获得丰厚的现金奖励。奖金数额每年都有所不同,具体取决于诺贝尔捐赠的回报。2001 年,现金价值设定为 1000 万瑞典克朗(相当于 2021 年的 117 万美元)。从 2012 年到 2019 年,现金价值有所降低,但在 2020 年又恢复到 1000 万瑞典克朗。
Although some have argued that the Nobel Prizes are not always given to the best candidates, the science prizes have generally been awarded to people whose discoveries or body of work have had a major effect on the discipline and often on the whole field of science. They also represent a conduit for public exposure to science, since the awards were, and are, a major news event. Winning Nobel Prizes has become a matter of national pride. In addition to the prestige and a gold medal, the winner also receives a substantial cash prize. The amount of the prize varied from year to year based on the returns on the Nobel endowment. In 2001, the cash value was set to 10 million kronor (worth about $1.17 million US in 2021 dollars). It was reduced from 2012 to 2019 but returned to 10 million kronor in 2020.
在 X 射线成为新闻的同时,人们仍在努力了解粒子和电磁波谱的真正情况。为了更好地理解阴极射线管中的奇异粒子,赫兹通过构建一个阴极射线管,在两个带电金属板之间发射一束射线,证明了阴极射线在穿过电场时不会偏离其路线。JJ 汤姆森 (1856-1940) 认为赫兹的结论一定是错误的,并证明射线在穿过电场时会发生偏转。他通过创造更好的真空并去除干扰阴极射线电荷的气体粒子来做到这一点。这一发现产生了许多影响:它引发了有关射线性质的更多问题,并且它还作为阴极射线管电视和计算机显示器背后的原理,为现代消费电子产品奠定了技术基础。
While X-rays were making news, the battle to understand just what was going on with particles and the electromagnetic spectrum continued. In an attempt to better understand the strange particles of the cathode tube, Hertz had shown, by constructing a cathode tube that sent a beam of rays between two electrically charged metal plates, that cathode rays were not deflected from their course when they passed through an electric field. J.J. Thomson (1856–1940) thought that Hertz’s conclusion had to be wrong and proved that the rays were deflected when passing through an electrical field. He did this by creating a better vacuum and removing gas particles that had interfered with the electrical charge on the cathode rays. The discovery had many consequences: it raised further questions about the nature of the rays, and it also formed the technical foundation for modern consumer electronics as the principle behind cathode-ray tube televisions and computer monitors.
尽管 JJ Thomson 似乎已将赫兹射线转化为粒子,但他发现的却是一种奇异粒子。其路径可受磁场和电场偏转。偏转路径表明粒子上带负电荷,而 X 射线则不受电场影响。由于阴极射线的速度和路径可受磁场和电场控制,并且这些场的强度是已知的,因此可以通过计算奇异粒子的质量与电荷之比来估计其质量。电子的质量是氢离子的 1/1836,或用现代术语来说为 9.1091 × 10 -28克。该粒子似乎就是斯托尼电子。
Although J.J. Thomson seemed to have transformed Hertz’s ray into a particle, it was a strange particle that he found. Its path could be deflected by both a magnetic field and an electrical field. The path of the deflection suggested a negative charge on the particle, unlike X-rays which were unaffected by electrical fields. Because the velocity and path of the cathode ray could be controlled by magnetic and electrical fields, and the strength of those fields was known, it was possible to estimate the mass of the strange particle by calculating its ratio of mass to charge. The electron’s mass was 1/1836 that of a hydrogen ion, or in modern terms 9.1091 × 10-28 grams. This particle appeared to be Stoney’s electron.
虽然知道电子的质量是一个突破,但它并没有自动确定粒子的电荷。1911 年,罗伯特·安德鲁·密立根 (1868-1953) 通过实验实现了这一目标,他使用漂浮在两个带相反电荷的板之间的油滴来测量电子的电荷。通过观察吸收空气中离子的微小油滴的运动(他使用 X 射线使大气电离),他可以计算出电荷。他推断电荷只能有一种大小,那就是电子的单位电荷,所有原子中的所有电子的电荷都相同。
While knowing the mass of the electron was a breakthrough, it did not automatically determine the charge of the particle. This was done experimentally in 1911 by Robert Andrew Millikan (1868–1953), who used droplets of oil floating between two oppositely charged plates to measure the electron’s charge. By observing the motion of a tiny oil droplet that absorbed ions from the air (he used X-rays to ionize the atmosphere), he could calculate the charge. He reasoned that the charge could have only one size and that was the unit charge of the electron, which was the same for all electrons in all atoms.
在计算出质量和电荷的同时,还有一个令人困扰的问题:粒子撞击阴极管末端后去了哪里?阴极射线产生的荧光将粒子与光联系起来,但这又将问题带回到原点。光是粒子还是波?
While the mass and charge were being figured out, there remained a troubling question: Where did the particle go after it hit the end of the cathode tube? The fluorescence associated with cathode rays linked the particle to light, but that just brought the question around full circle. Was light a particle or a wave?
大多数关于电磁波谱的发现似乎证实了宇宙的波动性,但波动理论也存在问题。根据定义,波必须通过介质传播。就像在真空中敲响的钟声不会发出声音一样,如果光是波,它必须有介质来传播,否则就无法观察到电磁波谱。电磁介质(或称为以太)的特性必须非常特殊,而对于一些科学家来说,电磁以太似乎是笛卡尔涡旋和集气室思想的回归。
Most discoveries about the electromagnetic spectrum seemed to confirm the wave nature of the universe, but there were problems with the wave theory as well. Waves, by definition, had to be propagated through a medium. Just as there is no sound to be heard from a bell rung in a vacuum, if light were a wave it had to have a medium to travel through, or there would be no electromagnetic spectrum to observe. The characteristics of the electromagnetic medium, or the ether as it was called, would have to be very particular, and for some scientists the electromagnetic ether seemed like a throwback to the Cartesian idea of vortex and plenum.
如果能量理论的支持者是正确的,即所有“物质”都只是波的表现形式,那么剩下的问题就是波如何表现为固体,因为波具有相互穿过的特性。换句话说,如果人和墙都不是物质而是由波组成的,那么为什么人不能穿过墙呢?两条工作路线不仅解决了波/粒子问题,而且具有讽刺意味的是,它们还揭开了牛顿体系的根基。第一条路线来自放射性的发现,第二条路线来自一个逻辑难题,该难题是由牛顿力学体系和波动理论不可能同时正确而产生的。
If the supporters of the Energetik theory were right, that all “matter” was simply a manifestation of waves, there remained the question of how waves could manifest themselves as a solid, since waves had the property of passing through each other. In other words, why couldn’t a person walk through a wall, if both the person and the wall were not material but composed of waves? Two lines of work not only led to a resolution of the wave/particle problem but also, ironically, unraveled the very foundation of the Newtonian system. The first line came from the discovery of radioactivity and the second from a logical conundrum that was created by the impossibility of both Newton’s system of mechanics and wave theory being correct.
1895 年,安托万·亨利·贝克勒尔 (Antoine Henri Becquerel,1852-1908) 开始详细研究荧光和磷光,这是他一段时间以来一直感兴趣的领域,但伦琴在 X 射线方面的工作让他对此更加感兴趣。贝克勒尔想知道荧光材料是否反过来会产生 X 射线或阴极射线。他选择使用铀盐,因为众所周知,铀盐会发出强烈的荧光。首先,他将晶体暴露在强阳光下,然后将它们放在密封的照相底片上。底片显影后,晶体所在的位置变暗,表明铀盐中的射线穿过了覆盖纸。
In 1895 Antoine Henri Becquerel (1852–1908) began a detailed study of fluorescence and phosphorescence, an area he had been interested in for some time, but which was made more interesting by the work of Röntgen on X-rays. Becquerel wondered if fluorescing materials could in turn produce X-rays or cathode rays. He chose to work with uranium salts because they were known to fluoresce strongly. First, he exposed the crystals to strong sunlight, and then placed them on a sealed photographic plate. When the plate was developed, there was a darkening where the crystals had been, indicating the passage of rays from the uranium salts through the covering paper.
1896 年 2 月 26 日至 27 日,天空阴云密布,贝克勒尔无法继续研究,因此他将晶体和照相底片放在一个不透光的抽屉里。他很好奇晶体中是否还残留着射线的痕迹,于是还是冲洗了底片,发现暗色图像与暴露在光线下的盐的图像一样清晰。使底片变暗的物质来自样品,而不是被吸收后发射出来的物质。对铀进行仔细检查后发现,辐射不能像普通光一样反射,但可以影响其照射到的物体的电荷。
On February 26 and 27, 1896, overcast skies prevented Becquerel from continuing his study, so he left the crystals and photographic plate in a light-proof drawer. Curious to see if there was any residual trace of the rays from the crystals, he developed the plate anyway and discovered that the dark image was just as strong as the image from the salts exposed to light. Whatever had darkened the plate came from the sample, not from something absorbed and later emitted. Closer examination of the uranium showed that the radiation could not be reflected like ordinary light but could affect the electrical charge of objects on which it fell.
大约在同一时间,玛丽·斯克洛多夫斯卡·居里 (1867-1934) 开始研究放射性。她使用了丈夫皮埃尔·居里 (1859-1906) 和他的兄弟雅克 (1856-1914) 发明的压电石英静电计。这种工具可以测量非常小的电荷量,她用它来识别表现出贝克勒尔指出的效应的物质。只有铀和钍会发出电离辐射,但当她测试沥青铀矿样本时,她发现它的电离能力大于纯铀。沥青铀矿之于居里夫妇就像煤焦油之于有机化学家。它主要由铀的氧化物U 3 O 8组成,但也含有极少量的其他成分。铀是一种稀有材料,其主要用途是作为玻璃制造的着色剂,可以生产出美丽的蓝色玻璃。经过数月对原矿石或沥青铀矿的提炼,居里夫妇分离出了一种新的放射性元素,他们将其命名为钋,以纪念玛丽的祖国波兰。进一步的提炼工作产生了第二种放射性元素镭,他们于 1898 年 12 月宣布了这一发现。他们处理了八吨沥青铀矿,以生产出一克镭化合物。长期接触放射性物质很可能是导致玛丽·居里于 1934 年死于癌症的原因。
At about the same time, Marie Sklodowska Curie (1867–1934) began her work on radioactivity. She used a piezo-electric quartz electrometer that had been invented by her husband Pierre Curie (1859–1906) and his brother Jacques (1856–1914). This tool could measure very small levels of electrical charge, and she used it to identify substances that demonstrated the effects noted by Becquerel. Only uranium and thorium gave off the ionizing radiation, but when she tested a sample of pitchblende, she found that its ionizing power was greater than pure uranium. Pitchblende was for the Curies something like coal tar had been for organic chemists. It was composed largely of an oxide of uranium, U3O8, but also contained other components in very small quantities. Uranium was a rare material whose main use was as a coloring agent for glass-making, where it produced a beautiful blue glass. After months of work refining the raw ore or pitchblende, the Curies isolated a new radioactive element that they named polonium, after Poland, Marie’s homeland. Further refining work produced a second radioactive element, radium, which they announced in December 1898. They had processed eight tons of pitchblende in order to produce one gram of radium compound. It is likely that the long-term exposure to radioactive substances led to Marie Curie’s death from cancer in 1934.
贝克勒尔和居里夫妇因在放射性物质方面的工作而获得了诺贝尔物理学奖。1906 年,皮埃尔在一场交通事故中丧生,但玛丽继续从事她的工作。她是少数被允许进入男性主导的科学界的女性之一,也是第一位获得诺贝尔奖的女性和索邦大学的第一位女教授。1911 年,她的名字被提名为法国科学院院士,但在一场高度公开和激烈的斗争中,她被拒绝了。许多人仍然认为女性不适合从事科学工作,或者她是在依靠丈夫。不仅是厌女症,还有其他因素也导致了她的拒绝——反犹太主义、法国保守派和自由派之间的分裂以及民族主义。虽然玛丽居里是天主教徒,但她的名字暗示着犹太血统,而她也陷入了德雷福斯事件引发的敌意之中。4因为她是波兰人,她也成为激进民族主义者的攻击目标,而作为一名自由主义者,她被学院内外的保守派视为威胁。当她赢得同年,居里夫人再次获得诺贝尔化学奖,反对者则谴责这是政治姿态。居里夫人是唯一两次获得诺贝尔奖的人,直到 1962 年莱纳斯·鲍林再次获得诺贝尔奖(1954 年化学奖,1962 年和平奖)。
Becquerel and the Curies were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their work on radioactive substances. Tragedy befell when Pierre was killed in a traffic accident in 1906, but Marie continued on with her work. One of the few women allowed into the male-dominated world of science, she was the first female Nobel winner and the first female professor at the Sorbonne. In 1911 her name was put forward for membership in the Académie des Sciences, but in a highly public and acrimonious fight, she was rejected. Many still believed that women were unsuited for scientific work or that she was riding on her husband’s coattails. Not only misogyny but other factors affected the rejection – anti-Semitism, the split in France between conservatives and liberals, and nationalism. Although Marie Curie was Catholic, her name suggested Jewish heritage, and she was caught in the animosity arising from the Dreyfus Affair.4 Because she was Polish, she also became the target for radical nationalists, and, as a liberal, she was seen as a threat by the conservatives both inside and outside the Académie. When she won a second Nobel Prize that same year in chemistry, her opponents decried it as a political gesture. Marie Curie remained the only person to receive two Nobel Prizes until 1962 when Linus Pauling won his second (Chemistry 1954, Peace 1962).
尽管有批评者,但玛丽·居里的工作不仅有助于理解放射性和发现新元素,而且还开启了对物质结构的理解。贝克勒尔和其他人认识到电离辐射并非单一类型。一些辐射只能穿透一层薄薄的金属箔,而另一些则穿透得更深。此外,一些来自放射性物质的辐射可以被电场偏转。这些不同的特性被确定为不同类型的射线,在 1900 年左右被称为阿尔法射线和贝塔射线,而穿透力更强的伽马射线在 1903 年左右被识别和命名。
Despite the detractors, Marie Curie’s work not only was instrumental in understanding radioactivity and discovering new elements but also opened up understanding of the very structure of matter. Becquerel and others recognized that the ionizing radiation was not of a single type. Some radiation could penetrate only a thin layer of metal foil, while some penetrated much deeper. In addition, some of the radiation from radioactive material could be deflected by an electrical field. These different characteristics were identified as different types of rays, labeled alpha and beta rays around 1900, with gamma rays, which had more penetrating power, being identified and named around 1903.
虽然物理学中最热门的话题似乎是 X 射线、辐射和无线电波,但有一个安静的实验项目正在研究胶体,以此来证明原子和物质的物理现实。这方面的研究被其他发现所掩盖,原因有两个。首先,从一开始,胶体就与胶水、油漆和大量工业和家用产品等完全平凡的东西有关。第二个原因是,胶体与有机和生物研究的关系比与物质的基本性质的关系更密切。
While the hottest topics in physics seemed to be X-rays, radiation, and radio waves, there was a quiet experimental program studying colloids as a method of demonstrating the physical reality of atoms and matter. There were two reasons why this line of research was overshadowed by other discoveries. The first was that from the beginning colloids were associated with completely mundane things such as glue, paint, and a host of industrial and household products. The second reason was that colloids were more closely associated with organic and biological studies than with the fundamental nature of matter.
1900 年左右,关于动植物细胞物质的主流理论是基于胶体化学。胶体是由苏格兰化学家、伦敦化学学会第一任会长托马斯·格雷厄姆 (1805-69) 发现的。他将一组不会通过膜扩散的物质归类为胶体(与晶体不同,晶体会通过膜)。他认为这些物质(如乳香、脂肪、油漆和血液的一部分)具有某些独特的性质,例如能够形成凝胶。细胞化学基于这样一种信念,即这些胶体基本上是未分化的团块,化学活性部分(控制细胞活动的酶)嵌入或附着在团块上。这被称为“träger 理论”,源自德语单词“载体”。
Around 1900 the prevailing theory about cell material in plants and animals was based on colloid chemistry. Colloids were identified by Thomas Graham (1805–69), a Scottish chemist and the first president of the Chemical Society of London. He classified a group of materials that would not diffuse through a membrane as colloids (as opposed to crystalloids, which did pass through the membrane). He thought these substances – like mastic, fats, paints, and parts of blood – had certain unique properties such as the ability to form gels. Cell chemistry was based on a belief that these colloids were largely undifferentiated masses with the chemically active parts – the enzymes that controlled cell activity – embedded or attached to the mass. This was called the “träger theory” from the German word for “carrier.”
1903 年,理查德·齐格蒙迪 (Richard Zsigmondy,1865-1929 年) 和他的助手亨利·西登托普 (Henry Siedentopf,1872-1940 年) 制造出第一台超显微镜,从此研究胶体变得容易得多。超显微镜是光学工程的奇迹,有效地达到了光学观察的极限。通过在黑暗背景下从侧面照射物体,它允许检查直径小至 5 微米的颗粒(尽管其一般操作范围为 20 至 200 微米),就像人们在一束阳光中看到漂浮的灰尘一样。这使我们能够定量评估胶体材料。(见图8.7。)
It became significantly easier to study colloids when Richard Zsigmondy (1865–1929) and his assistant Henry Siedentopf (1872–1940) constructed the first ultramicroscope in 1903. The ultramicroscope was a marvel of optical engineering and effectively reached the limit of optical observation. It allowed the examination of particles down to 5 millimicrons in diameter (although its general operating range was 20 to 200 millimicrons) by illuminating the object from the side against a dark background, just as one might see floating dust motes in a beam of sunlight. This allowed a quantitative evaluation of colloidal material. (See figure 8.7.)
8.7超显微镜
8.7 ULTRAMICROSCOPE
西奥多·斯维德伯格 (Theodor Svedberg,1884-1971 年) 发明了超速离心机,这又迈出了一步。这种装置在高达 100,000 重力的流体介质中旋转颗粒样本,分离出无法用其他方法分析的微小物质。斯维德伯格使用超速离心机研究血红蛋白等有机胶体,并有了惊人的发现。他发现,血红蛋白样本(和其他此类物质)中的颗粒大小各不相同,所有颗粒大小均相同。这表明,细胞的化学成分是均匀的,而不是未分化的随机有机物质团块。这些发现起初很难接受,因为生物化学家难以相信单个分子可以像测试显示的那么大。例如,血红蛋白的原子量为 68,000。生物化学家曾预计细胞物质是由小分子组成的,并最初认为单个功能分子的最大分子量不能超过 16,000。血红蛋白的结果对一些科学家来说似乎荒谬可笑,斯维德伯格多次重复实验以确认结果。
A further step was taken when Theodor (“The”) Svedberg (1884–1971) developed the ultracentrifuge. This device, which spun samples of particles in a fluid medium at up to 100,000 gravities, separated materials too small to be analyzed using other methods. Svedberg used the ultracentrifuge to study organic colloids such as hemoglobin and made a surprising discovery. Rather than finding a range of particle sizes in a sample of hemoglobin (and other such substances), he found that all the particles were the same size. This suggested that rather than being undifferentiated and random clumps of organic material, the chemical components of cells were uniform. These findings were hard to accept at first, because biochemists had trouble believing that a single molecule could be as large as the tests suggested. Hemoglobin, for example, had an atomic weight of 68,000. Biochemists had expected cellular material to be composed of small components and initially argued that the highest molecular weight for a single functional molecule could not be greater than 16,000. The hemoglobin result seemed almost absurd to some scientists, and Svedberg repeated the experiment several times to confirm the results.
赫尔曼·施陶丁格 (Hermann Staudinger,1881-1965) 参与了这场辩论。施陶丁格具有叛逆的性格,他反对第一次世界大战期间德国的化学战,他准备挑战同行化学家,无论他们的地位如何。因此,他愿意反对公认的观点,并拥护大型有机分子。1924 年,他提议将有机化学中越来越多的大型聚集体命名为“大分子”。他因提出这些胶体化合物可能是单个功能分子而受到严厉批评,一些化学家甚至认为实验室操作不当导致了这一错误。1929 年,随着对胶体的研究越来越多,施陶丁格来到德国科学基金会 (Notgemeinschaft der Deutsche Wissenschaft) 并要求资金购买超速离心机。当他的请求被拒绝时,他转向其他方法来确定聚合物或由较小单元构成的长链分子的分子量。他发现粘度与分子量有关,通过测量粘度,他可以估计分子链的重量和大小。使用简单的工具,他预测了一些分子量,这些分子量已通过其他方法得到证实。他还在不改变分子量的情况下化学改变了大分子。虽然这不是一时改变化学的重大实验,但它确实破坏了有机物质是不确定质量的胶体理论。对于遗传学家来说,当大分子被接受并且它们的组成可供研究时,通往细胞最终控制系统的道路变得更加清晰。只要有机分子被认为是不确定的甚至是随机聚集的,就几乎没有办法组织或系统地研究酶、激素以及最终的 DNA。
Into this debate came Hermann Staudinger (1881–1965). Staudinger had a rebellious streak, having opposed German chemical warfare during World War I, and he was prepared to challenge fellow chemists regardless of their status. He was, therefore, willing to oppose the accepted opinion and champion the idea of large organic molecules. In 1924 he proposed the name “macromolecule” for the large aggregates that were showing up more and more in organic chemistry. He was roundly criticized for suggesting that these colloid compounds could be single functional molecules, and some chemists even suggested poor laboratory practice had led to the error. In 1929, as more work was done on colloids, Staudinger went to the Notgemeinschaft der Deutsche Wissenschaft (the German Research Foundation) and asked for money to purchase an ultracentrifuge. When his request was refused, he turned to other methods to determine the molecular weight of polymers, or long-chain molecules that were constructed from smaller units. He found that viscosity was related to molecular weight and that, by measuring viscosity, he could estimate the weight and size of molecular chains. With simple tools, he predicted a number of molecular weights that were confirmed by other methods. He also chemically altered a macromolecule without changing its molecular weight. While this was not the experimentum crucis that changed chemistry in a single moment, it did undermine the colloid theory of organic substances as being indeterminate masses. For the geneticists, the path to the ultimate control system of the cell became much clearer when macromolecules were accepted and their composition laid open to study. As long as organic molecules were thought to be indeterminate or even random aggregations, there was little way to organize or systematically study enzymes, hormones, and, ultimately, DNA.
1895 年,让-巴蒂斯特·佩兰 (Jean-Baptiste Perrin,1870-1942 年) 利用胶体研究证明阴极射线不是波,而是带电粒子。他通过展示射线可以将可测量的电荷转移到另一个物体来证明这一点。他与流行的能量学理论背道而驰,着手证明原子和分子的物理性质。从 1908 年左右开始,他使用超显微镜创造了微小胶体粒子在烧瓶中水中移动的行为,并对其进行了精心观察。这些粒子太小,无法沉降到容器底部,就像在空气中飞舞的尘埃一样,似乎在弹跳和曲折。这种随机运动被称为布朗运动,因为它是由植物学家罗伯特·布朗 (Robert Brown,1773-1858 年) 于 1827 年首次注意到的。佩兰认为方向的变化是由于粒子与液体分子的碰撞造成的。由于他知道他制造的粒子的质量,他可以计算出水分子的质量和动能。由此,他可以计算出给定体积的液体中的分子数量,并为阿伏伽德罗的假设提供实验验证。从该假设中可以得出一种计算给定质量中粒子的具体数量的方法。这个数字被称为阿伏伽德罗的数,等于每摩尔 6.022 × 10 23 个粒子。换句话说,一摩尔氢原子数与一摩尔金或一摩尔血红蛋白分子数相同。利用阿伏伽德罗常数,可以计算出给定质量的元素或化合物中有多少个原子。
In 1895 Jean-Baptiste Perrin (1870–1942) used the study of colloids to demonstrate that cathode rays were not waves but charged particles. He did this by showing that the rays could transfer a measurable charge to another object. Flying in the face of the popular Energetik theory, he set out to demonstrate the physical nature of atoms and molecules. Starting around 1908 he created and painstakingly observed, using the ultramicroscope, the behavior of tiny colloid particles moving through water in a flask. The particles were too small to settle to the bottom of the container and, like dust motes dancing in air, seemed to bounce and zigzag. This random motion was called Brownian motion, since it had been first noted by the botanist Robert Brown (1773–1858) in 1827. Perrin argued that the changes in direction were due to collisions of the particles with molecules of the liquid. Since he knew the mass of the particles he had made, he could calculate the mass and kinetic energy of the water molecules. From that, he could calculate the number of molecules in a given volume of liquid and provide an experimental confirmation of Avogadro’s hypothesis. From the hypothesis comes a method for calculating the specific number of particles in a given mass. This number is known as Avogadro’s number and is equal to 6.022 × 1023 particles in a mole. In other words, one mole of hydrogen has the same number of atoms as one mole of gold or one mole of hemoglobin molecules. With Avogadro’s number, one can figure out how many atoms exist in a given mass of an element or compound.
佩兰于 1909 年发表了他的结论,显然他没有意识到他的实验工作恰好证实了阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦于 1905 年发表的关于原子和分子物理存在的理论论证(见第 9 章)。
Perrin published his conclusions in 1909, apparently unaware that his experimental work neatly confirmed the theoretical argument for the physical existence of atoms and molecules that had been published in 1905 by Albert Einstein (see Chapter 9).
虽然佩兰和爱因斯坦的工作支持了原子和分子的实际存在,但原子的结构究竟是什么样的问题仍然存在。大约在这个时候,原子的一般概念是“葡萄干布丁”或“葡萄干面包”模型,该模型将原子描绘成一个单一的正质量,负电荷(“葡萄干”)分布在整个原子中。该模型让人想起“特雷格尔理论”。该模型并不十分优雅,但它满足原子化学和物理行为所必须存在的许多要求,例如获得和失去电荷以及形成键的能力。(见图8.8。)
While the work of Perrin and Einstein supported the actual existence of atoms and molecules, there was still the question of what the structure of the atom looked like. Around this time, the general conception of the atom was the “plum pudding” or “raisin bun” model, which pictured the atom as a single positive mass, with negative charges (the “raisins”) distributed throughout. The model was reminiscent of the “träger theory.” The model was not very elegant, but it fit a number of the requirements that had to exist because of the chemical and physical behavior of the atom, such as the ability to gain and lose electrical charges and to form bonds. (See figure 8.8.)
8.8葡萄干面包模型和卢瑟福轨道模型
8.8 RAISIN BUN MODEL AND RUTHERFORD’S ORBITAL MODEL
放射性扰乱了这一图景,因为放射性物质似乎在向外发射原子碎片。1903 年,欧内斯特·卢瑟福 (1871-1937) 和弗雷德里克·索迪 (1877-1956) 发表了一篇文章,认为放射性物质实际上正在经历一系列转变,就像瓷器雕像从台阶上掉下来一样;掉落的碎片是阿尔法和贝塔射线。这有时被称为“现代炼金术”,因为它是物质的实际嬗变,但与中世纪炼金术不同,它将稀有金属转化为贱金属——铀变成了铅!
Radioactivity disturbed this picture, since radioactive substances seemed to be shooting out bits of the atom. In 1903 Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937) and Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) published an article arguing that radioactive substances were in fact going through a series of transformations rather like a china figurine falling down a set of steps; the pieces that broke off were the alpha and beta rays. This has sometimes been called “modern alchemy” since it was an actual transmutation of matter, but unlike the medieval alchemy, it took rare metals and turned them into base metals – uranium into lead!
卢瑟福和索迪认为原子不是永久结构,从而破坏了自希腊以来一直是物质理论基础的粒子理论和牛顿粒子主义的确定性。事实上,阴极射线、放射性和 X 射线具有物质基础的发现表明原子具有独立存在的子部分整体而言。为了证实这一点,卢瑟福将阿尔法射线射入一个抽空的双层玻璃容器,发现容器内有失去两个电子的氦原子。阿尔法射线实际上不是射线,而是粒子流。
By suggesting that atoms were not permanent structures, Rutherford and Soddy undermined the certainty both of the corpuscular theory that had been the foundation of matter theory since the Greeks and of Newtonian corpuscularianism. In fact, the discovery that cathode rays, radioactivity, and X-rays had a material foundation suggested that atoms had sub-parts that existed separately from the whole. To confirm this, Rutherford beamed alpha rays into an evacuated double-walled glass container and found inside the chamber were helium atoms that had lost two electrons. Alpha rays were not really rays but streams of particles.
为了研究阿尔法粒子的穿透力,卢瑟福将它们射向薄薄的云母片,并注意到产生的光束比原始光束模糊得多。1907 年,他与曼彻斯特的汉斯·盖革 (Hans Geiger,1882-1945) 合作,发明了一种可以记录单个粒子通过的探测器。利用这种探测器技术,他的一名学生欧内斯特·马斯登 (Ernest Marsden,1889-1970) 进行了一项实验,他将一束阿尔法粒子射向一片金箔。箔很薄,只有 0.008 毫米厚,大多数阿尔法粒子都以直线穿过。少数被偏转,一小部分(约 8,000 分之一)直接反弹。这是一个令人惊讶的结果。卢瑟福推断,这意味着阿尔法粒子撞击的是原子的固体核心,而原子的其余部分基本上是空的。固体核心,他称之为“原子核”,几乎包含了原子的全部质量。因此,原子是由原子核和其周围的电子组成的。
To study the penetrating power of alpha particles, Rutherford shot them at a thin piece of mica and noted that the resulting beam was much fuzzier than the original. Working with Hans Geiger (1882–1945) in Manchester in 1907, he created a detector that could record the passage of a single particle. Using this detector technique, one of his students, Ernest Marsden (1889–1970) conducted an experiment in which he shot a beam of alpha particles at a strip of gold foil. The foil was thin, only 0.008 mm thick, and most of the alpha particles passed through in a straight line. A few were deflected, and a tiny portion, about one in 8,000, bounced straight back. This was an astonishing result. Rutherford deduced that it meant that the alpha particles were striking a solid core of an atom, while the rest of the atom was essentially empty space. The solid core, which he called the “nucleus,” contained almost the entire mass of the atom. Thus an atom was a nucleus with electrons around it.
原子由独立部分组成,这一观点与其他人的发现相符,但原子大部分是空的,这在一些人看来几乎是不可能的。1912 年,丹麦物理学家尼尔斯·玻尔 (Niels Bohr,1885-1962) 开始与卢瑟福合作,情况变得更加复杂。他证明,原子核模型不能遵循经典物理规则;否则,原子中的电子会在几分之一秒内失去能量并螺旋下降到原子核中。相反,电子在一系列层中旋转,电子的轨道动量被“量子化”,或固定在特定值。只有当电子从一个轨道能级跃迁到另一个轨道能级时,原子才会释放能量。此外,能量(量子)的数量是固定的——跳跃需要一个“能量包”。(见图8.9。)
That the atom was made up of separate parts fit with the discoveries of others, but that it was mostly empty space seemed to some almost impossible. The picture became even more complex when Danish physicist Niels Bohr (1885–1962) came to work with Rutherford in 1912. He demonstrated that the nuclear model could not follow classical rules of physics; otherwise the electrons in an atom would lose energy and spiral down into the core in a fraction of a second. Rather, the electrons orbited in a series of layers, and the electron’s orbital momentum was “quantized,” or fixed at specific values. Energy was emitted from the atom only when the electrons jumped from one orbital level to another. Further, the amount of energy (the quanta) was fixed – a single “packet” of energy was needed for a jump. (See figure 8.9.)
8.9卢瑟福-玻尔原子
8.9 THE RUTHERFORD-BOHR ATOM
氢原子模型。每个圆圈代表电子可能的轨道区域,称为原子壳层。如果电子从一个轨道移动到另一个轨道,它会获得或失去一定量的能量或量子。
A model of the hydrogen atom. Each circle represents the possible orbital zone for an electron, called the atomic shell. If an electron moves from one orbit to another, it gains or loses a fixed amount of energy or quanta.
在这里,我们看到原子结构研究与另一门科学——热力学——的融合。玻尔之所以能将这一见解应用于原子结构,是因为马克斯·普朗克(1858-1947)已经从热力学研究中发展出了量子理论。十九世纪末热力学的一个核心问题是热与辐射之间的关系。古斯塔夫·基尔霍夫(1824–87)于 1859 年设计了一个思想实验来形象化这种关系。他设想了一个“黑体”,它会吸收落在它上面的所有辐射,从红外线(热量)到可见光,再到更高能级的紫外线。这个理论物体也在另一个方向上起作用。如果它被加热,它应该以所有频率辐射,在整个光谱中发光。想象一下一块砖。在 50°C 时,它摸起来很烫,但在暗室中人眼看不见。在 700°C 左右,它刚好热到发光,而在 6,000°C 左右,它会发出明亮的光,这大约是太阳表面的温度。
Here we see the study of atomic structure converging with another line of scientific research, thermodynamics. Bohr could apply this insight to the structure of the atom because Max Planck (1858–1947) had already developed quantum theory out of the study of thermodynamics. A central question in thermodynamics in the late nineteenth century was about the relationship between heat and radiation. Gustav Kirchhoff (1824–87) in 1859 had devised a thought experiment to visualize this relationship. He imagined a “black body” that would absorb all radiation that fell on it from infrared (heat) through visible light and on to higher energy levels such as ultraviolet. This theoretical body also worked in the other direction. If it were heated, it should radiate at all frequencies, glowing through the spectrum. Consider a brick. At 50°C it is hot to the touch, but invisible in a dark room to the human eye. At around 700°C it is just hot enough to glow, while it emits a bright light at about 6,000°C, which is about the temperature of the surface of the Sun.
黑体是一种有用的实验工具,但它只能存在于理论上。1895 年,威廉·维恩 (Wilhelm Wien, 1864–1928) 想出了一个巧妙的办法,可以解决真实黑体的问题。他推断,石墨炉上的一个洞可以尽可能地通过实验复制出黑体。石墨可以吸收落在其上的约 97% 的辐射,这虽然不错,但还远远不够。通过在石墨上打一个洞,未被吸收的辐射不会辐射出去,而是会四处反弹,直到被炉内的另一个表面吸收。有些辐射可能会从洞中逸出,但大多数会被吸收。同样,系统将反向工作;当炉子被加热时,能量会从洞中辐射出去。
A black body would be a useful experimental tool, but it could exist only in theory. In 1895 Wilhelm Wien (1864–1928) came up with a great dodge around the problem of a real black body. He reasoned that a hole in a graphite furnace could replicate a black body as closely as experimentally possible. Graphite can absorb about 97 per cent of the radiation that falls on it, which is good but not nearly good enough. By putting a hole in the graphite, radiation not absorbed would not radiate away but bounce around until it was absorbed on another surface inside the furnace. Some might escape out the hole, but most would be absorbed. Similarly, the system would work in reverse; as the furnace was heated, energy would radiate from the hole.
维恩发现,随着温度升高,能量会以一定频率辐射,但有一个峰值范围,因此大部分辐射都处于特定频率。这与物理学家的预期结果背道而驰。热体预计会以相等的概率辐射所有频率,因此应该有更多的高频辐射(如紫外和紫外线),因为高频可能性比低频可能性大。但事实恰恰相反。低频辐射很多,高频辐射很少。
Wien found that, as he raised the temperature, the energy radiated at a range of frequencies but had a peak range, so that most of the radiation given off was at a particular frequency. This ran against what physicists had expected to find. Hot bodies were expected to radiate at all frequencies with equal probability, so there should have been far more high frequency radiation (such as violet and ultraviolet), because there were more high frequency possibilities than low ones. Just the opposite happened. There was a lot of low frequency radiation and very little high frequency.
1900 年,马克斯·普朗克提出了一个解决方案。他推断能量不是连续释放的,而是以包的形式释放的。他将这些包称为量子,这个词来自拉丁语,意为“多少”。根据这一理论,频率较高的紫光需要的量子是频率低得多的红光量子的两倍。除非有足够的能量组成合适大小的包,否则紫光无法辐射,但红光所需的较小包中可能已经用尽了部分能量。因此,红光出现的频率将远远高于紫光,而紫光可能根本不会在低温下辐射。普朗克在黑体问题上的工作产生了普朗克常数h,即最小作用单位,约为 6.6 × 10 -27尔格秒。当他第一次虽然他提出了量子理论的想法,但并没有产生巨大的影响,但随着其他科学家将其应用于越来越广泛的物理现象,包括玻尔的原子结构模型,其重要性日益增加。
In 1900 Max Planck offered a solution to the problem. He reasoned that energy was not given off continuously but in packets. He called these packets quanta from the Latin for “how much.” Under this theory, violet light, with a high frequency, required a quantum twice as big as the quantum for red light, which has a much lower frequency. No violet light could be radiated until there was enough energy to make up the right size packet for it, but some of the energy would have already been used up in the smaller packets required for red light. Thus, red light would appear far more often than violet light, which might never be radiated at low temperatures at all. From Planck’s work on the black body problem came Planck’s constant h, the smallest unit of action, which is about 6.6 × 10-27 erg seconds. When he first introduced his idea about quantum theory, it did not have a huge impact, but its importance grew as other scientists applied it to a wider and wider range of physical phenomena, including Bohr’s model of atomic structure.
量子理论最重要的应用之一是爱因斯坦对光电效应的解释。赫兹于 1887 年发现,照射到金属板上的光线会弹出电子。1902 年,菲利普·莱纳德 (Philipp Lenard,1862-1947) 发现该效应存在阈值频率。如果光线以低于所需频率的频率照射到金属板上,无论其强度如何,都不会弹出电子。爱因斯坦采用了能量包或能量粒子(打破电子与金属键所需的最小能量)的概念,实际上认为光是一种粒子。这个光原子或光子颠覆了一个世纪以来关于光的波动性的理论。
One of the most important applications of the quantum theory was Einstein’s explanation of the photoelectric effect. Hertz had discovered in 1887 that light beamed at a metal plate would eject electrons. In 1902 Philipp Lenard (1862–1947) found that there was a threshold frequency for the effect. If light was beamed at a plate below the required frequency and regardless of its intensity, no electrons would be ejected. Einstein took the idea of a packet or particle of energy (the minimum needed to break the electron bond to the metal) and in effect said that light was a kind of particle. This atom of light, or photon, overturned a century of theory about the wave nature of light.
随着世纪的结束,物理学的两大主题——物质研究和能量研究——正在交织在一起。牛顿将整个自然界综合成简单而普遍的定律的冲动似乎已经成功地通过了一段考验期,这段考验期源于将热力学、电学和辐射添加到牛顿宇宙中的问题。原子的结构令人惊讶,但对于大多数化学家来说,原子的内部结构并不比原子量的澄清和电化学创造的实用工具重要。有几个问题领域,例如量子概念很奇怪,但新知识的实用应用远远超过了任何尚未解答的令人厌烦的问题。所有学科领域的许多科学家都感到很满意,因为科学已经成功地回答了这些大问题,一些物理学家实际上预言了物理学的终结,因为所有已知现象都得到了有效的理解。
As the century drew to a close, the two great threads of physical science, the study of matter and the study of energy, were being knit together. The Newtonian impulse to synthesize all of nature into simple and universal laws seemed to have come triumphantly through a period of testing that arose from the problem of adding thermodynamics, electricity, and radiation to the Newtonian universe. The structure of the atom was a surprise, but for most chemists the atom’s inner structure was of less importance than the clarification of atomic weights and the practical tools that were created by electrochemistry. There were a few problem areas such as the odd concept of the quanta, but the useful applications of the new knowledge far outshone any of the irksome questions still unanswered. Many scientists, in all branches of study, felt a sense of satisfaction that science had successfully answered the big questions, and some physicists actually predicted the end of physics, as all known phenomena were effectively understood.
十九世纪末期对许多人来说都是一个激动人心、硕果累累的时代。新发明层出不穷,让人难以跟上。铁路横跨各大洲,轮船统治着海洋,电报线连接着文明世界。摄影术为我们带来了图像,留声机记录的声音似乎提供了超越空间、时间和阶级界限的机会。
The end of the nineteenth century was for many a time of great excitement and accomplishment. New inventions were appearing so quickly it was hard to keep up. Railways crossed the continents, steamships ruled the oceans, and telegraph wires connected the civilized world. Photography gave us images, and the phonograph recorded sounds that seemed to offer the chance to transcend old barriers of space, time, and class.
新时代令人惊叹,但社会和科学的前景却一片乌云。克里米亚战争(1853-6 年)和美国内战(1861-5 年)已经暗示了工业规模的战争会是什么样子。工业国家的快速城市化造成了大量贫民窟和猖獗的社会问题。尽管历史学家认为城市贫民比农村贫民生活得更好,尤其是从长远来看,但“无产阶级”更引人注目,也更了解自己的处境,部分原因是那些改变工业世界的发明。再加上欧洲对自然资源和非洲殖民地的争夺,冲突的舞台已经搭建好。
As astonishing as the new age was, there were dark clouds on the horizon for society and for science. The Crimean War (1853–6) and the American Civil War (1861–5) had given a hint of what warfare on an industrial scale could be. The rapid urbanization of the industrial countries created massive slums and rampant social problems. Although historians have argued that the urban poor were better off than the agrarian poor, especially over the long term, the “proletariat” were both more visible and more aware of their situation, in part because of the very inventions that were transforming the industrial world. Add to this the struggles over natural resources in Europe and colonial territories in Africa and the stage was set for conflict.
在科学领域,有许多问题需要得到很好的解答,例如达尔文的宏观生物系统如何在个体层面上表达?光在真空中通过什么传播?但只有少数科学家意识到,这些答案不仅需要新的见解,而且会改变科学知识的基础。更复杂的是,这些变化发生在许多科学家被要求(或在某些情况下被命令)将他们的工作转向战争和大规模杀伤的时候。尽管从阿基米德到伽利略的思想家在战争时期都曾被他们的赞助人要求提供帮助,但新努力的规模将是巨大的。它还将有助于引入一种名为“大科学”的新型科学研究模式。在棚屋或大学地下室与几名专职助手一起工作的绅士科学家将被大型实验室、科学家团队和巨额预算所取代。虽然个人天才在科学界仍享有受人尊敬的地位,但将想法转化为研究将成为一个更大的过程。
In science, there were a host of questions – such as how did Darwin’s macrobiological system express itself on the individual level? and what did light propagate through in the vacuum of space? – that still needed good answers, but only a few scientists had any sense that the answers would not only require new insights but would transform the very foundation of scientific knowledge. To complicate matters, these changes would take place at a time when many scientists were being asked (or in some cases ordered) to turn their work to warfare and mass destruction. Although thinkers from Archimedes to Galileo had been asked by their patrons for help in times of war, the scale of the new efforts would be vast. It would also help introduce a new model of scientific research called “Big Science.” The gentleman scientist working with a few dedicated assistants in a shed or university basement would be replaced by large laboratories, teams of scientists, and massive budgets. While the individual genius would still have a revered place in science, turning ideas into research would become a much bigger process.
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1.“重量”这个术语实际上是不正确的,因为测量的是粒子的质量,但按照惯例,分子质量和原子质量仍然是分子量和原子量。
1. The term “weight” is actually incorrect, since what was being measured was the mass of the particle, but by convention molecular and atomic mass continues to be molecular and atomic weight.
2.举个例子,如果你试图通过打开冰箱门来给厨房降温,就会出现上述问题。由于冰箱的工作原理是将热量从冰箱内部散发出去,并将其散发到厨房周围的空气中,因此,你试图降温的空气会被加热。而且,由于驱动冰箱的电机会因运动部件的摩擦而产生更多热量,因此房间内的热量会进一步增加。
2. An example of this problem is trying to cool your kitchen by leaving the refrigerator door open. Since the refrigerator works by taking the heat out of the interior of the refrigerator and radiating it to the surrounding air of the kitchen, you would heat the air you were trying to cool down. And because the motor that runs the refrigerator would generate more heat from the friction of the moving parts, you would gain even more heat in the room.
3.尚不清楚诺贝尔为何将和平奖的责任交给挪威人,尽管他们曾经(并且现在仍然)积极参与国际和平与裁军运动。经济学奖由瑞典银行于 1968 年设立,并非诺贝尔最初的计划。
3. It is not clear why Nobel gave the responsibility for the peace prize to the Norwegians, although they were (and continue to be) active in the international peace and disarmament movement. The economics prize was created in 1968 by the Bank of Sweden and was not part of Nobel’s original plan.
4.法国军队的犹太军官阿尔弗雷德·德雷福斯被诬告向德国人提供机密信息,被判终身监禁。由小说家埃米尔·左拉牵头的一场审判导致了对军队行为和判决的重新审判和起诉。德雷福斯接受了赦免,结束了他的折磨。这起事件在法国社会和政治中造成了深刻的裂痕。
4. Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French Army, was falsely accused of sending secret information to the Germans and was imprisoned for life. A protect, spearheaded by the novelist Émile Zola, led to a retrial and an indictment of the army’s practices and verdict. Dreyfus accepted a pardon to end his torment. The Affair caused deep fissures in French society and politics.
十九世纪早期的物理学家和化学家在很多方面都与中世纪学者相似,他们虽然提出了全新的思想,但工作却符合亚里士多德的模式。十九世纪,人们接受的模型是牛顿模型。然而,与亚里士多德体系的崩溃不同,当时旧的观察、方法和哲学基础都被抛弃了,新物理学并没有摧毁牛顿主义或“古典物理学”的全部,而是将其吸收到更大的体系中。虽然从严格意义上讲,牛顿定律被证明是不完整的,但它们在人类层面上却运行良好,以至于我们仍然生活在一个本质上是牛顿的世界里。只有在非常小和非常大的领域,牛顿物理学和哲学的接缝才没有完全吻合。科学的问题是宇宙必须从非常小到非常大建立起来,所以如果天平的两端不遵循中间似乎适用的规则,那就出了问题。
In many ways early nineteenth-century physicists and chemists resembled the medieval scholars who had fit their work into the Aristotelian schema even as they addressed totally new ideas. In the nineteenth century the accepted model was Newtonian. Unlike the collapse of the Aristotelian system, however, when old observations, methods, and philosophical foundations were all rejected, the new physics did not destroy all of Newtonianism or “classical physics” but rather absorbed it into a larger system. While in a strict sense Newton’s laws were shown to be incomplete, they worked so well at the human level that we still live in an essentially Newtonian world. It was only in the realm of the very small and the very big that the seams of Newtonian physics and philosophy did not quite mesh. The problem for science was that the universe must be built up from the very small to the very big, so if the two ends of the scale did not follow the rules that seemed to apply in the middle, something was very wrong.
到二十世纪中叶,科学用概率取代了公理,打破了稳定、确定和舒适的牛顿物理学世界。绝对时间和空间让位于基于观察者相对位置和身体状态的观察,而对牛顿确定性的信仰被抛弃。在生物学中,对群体的统计理解取代了个人的实地观察,成为主要的解释。在科学对牛顿主义进行这些打击的同时,科学家也在帮助摧毁欧洲社会,因为科学首次被直接用于支持大规模战争。科学成为一项巨大的事业,涉及大量基础设施和许多人的劳动。这场新的科学和全球战争反过来又使许多科学家和哲学家失去了乐观态度,并寻求人类问题的相对论而非绝对答案。
By the middle of the twentieth century science had torn apart the stable, certain, and comfortable world of Newtonian physics as it replaced axioms with probabilities. Absolute time and space gave way to observations based on the relative position and physical state of the observer, while faith in Newtonian certainty was abandoned. In biology, statistical understanding of populations replaced individual field observations as the major interpretive explanation. At the same time that science dealt these blows to Newtonianism, scientists were also aiding in the destruction of European society as, for the first time, science was directly used to support mass warfare. Science became a huge enterprise, involving substantial infrastructure and many people’s labor. This new scientific and global warfare, in turn, caused many scientists and philosophers to lose their optimism and search for relativistic rather than absolute answers to human problems.
科学变革的最重要源泉之一来自于对光的性质的持续争论。光是波还是粒子?波论的支持者是少数积极挑战牛顿思想的科学家之一,他们在十九世纪的工作促进了能量学派的兴起,并推动了整个自然界由波和力场组成的理论。原子论者对此作出回应,展示了原子的物理现实,甚至得出结论,电子(电的基本单位)是粒子。要了解射线和粒子的情况,还需要一种工具。这就是对光速的评估。知道物体的速度意味着可以计算一系列其他属性。从伽利略开始,许多自然哲学家都研究过光速。1676 年,丹麦天文学家 Ole Roemer(1644-1710)利用对木星卫星的仔细观察进行了计算,但他的工作并未被广泛接受。阿尔芒·斐索(Armand Fizeau,1819-96 年)和让·贝尔纳·傅科(Jean Bernard Foucault,1819-68 年)对光速进行了详细的测试,发现光在水中的传播速度比在空气中慢,并测量出光在真空中的速度约为每秒 300,000 公里。
One of the most important sources of change to science came from the ongoing debate over the nature of light. Was light a wave or a particle? The supporters of the wave side were some of the few scientists to actively challenge a Newtonian idea, and their work in the nineteenth century had contributed to the rise of the Energetik position and the theory that all of nature was composed of waves and fields of force. The atomists responded by demonstrating the physical reality of atoms and even concluded that the electron, the basic unit of electricity, was a particle. To understand what was happening with rays and particles, a further tool was necessary. This was an evaluation of the velocity of light. Knowing the velocity of an object meant that a range of other properties could be calculated. From Galileo on, a number of natural philosophers had examined the velocity of light. In 1676 the Danish astronomer Ole Roemer (1644–1710) had used careful observations of Jupiter’s satellites for his calculations, but his work was not widely accepted. Armand Fizeau (1819–96) and Jean Bernard Foucault (1819–68) made detailed tests of the velocity of light, finding that it traveled more slowly in water than air, and measured its velocity in a vacuum to be about 300,000 kilometers per second.
光波的性质和传播方式随后成为重要的研究课题。许多科学家认为,一定存在一种光可以通过的“发光以太”。以太这个术语借用自亚里士多德对构成月球上球体的特殊物质的名称,尽管它与亚里士多德的以太或笛卡尔的充盈空间不同,并且类似于麦克斯韦等科学家用来解释电磁学的以太概念。事实上,问题在于确定它的特性。波的传播速度取决于介质变形和恢复到原始状态的速度。例如,涟漪(水中的波浪)从鹅卵石撞击池塘表面的点移开的速度受到重力和水分子的分子吸引力的限制。无论鹅卵石的速度有多快当波遇到水时,波的速度保持不变。换句话说,传播速度取决于介质。如果光波遵循与声波相同的规则,那么以太应该具有与声波在不同介质中传播时发现的某些特性相似的特性。
The nature of light waves and the method of propagation then became important subjects for investigation. Many scientists assumed that a “luminiferous ether” must exist through which light could travel. The term ether was borrowed from the Aristotelian name for the special matter that made up the supralunar sphere, although it was a different sort of substance than either the Aristotelian ether or the Cartesian plenum, and was similar to the concept of ether used by scientists such as Maxwell to explain electromagnetism. In fact, the problem was to identify its characteristics. The rate at which waves travel depends on the rate at which the medium can deform and return to its original state. For example, the velocity with which ripples (waves in water) move away from the point where a pebble hits the surface of a pond is limited by gravity and the molecular attraction of the water molecules. No matter how fast the pebble is traveling when it hits the water, the velocity of the waves remains constant. In other words, the speed of propagation depends on the medium. If light waves followed the same rules as sound waves, then the ether should have certain characteristics similar to those found for the propagation of sound waves in different media.
因为光速非常高,所以以太的刚性也必须很高,因为材料越硬,变形和恢复的速度就越快。这意味着以太的刚性必须高于钢。然而,有一个大问题。以太还必须几乎是非物质的,否则它会减慢行星的运动,使宇宙坍缩,就像牛顿声称笛卡尔的太阳系涡旋模型会崩溃一样。这似乎是对常识的攻击。然而,以太的特性似乎是波动行为的必然结果,而光的波动行为是由十九世纪物理学家的实验确定的。
Because the velocity of light was very high, the rigidity of the ether must also be high, since the more rigid the material, the faster it can deform and snap back. That meant that the rigidity of the ether had to be higher than that of steel. There was, however, a big problem. The ether also had to be almost immaterial, or it would slow the motion of the planets, collapsing the universe in just the way Newton claimed Descartes’s vortex model of the solar system would collapse. This seemed to be an attack on common sense. And yet the characteristics of the ether appeared to be the inevitable consequence of wave behavior, and the wave behavior of light had been established by the experiments of nineteenth-century physicists.
1881 年,阿尔伯特·迈克尔逊 (Albert Michelson,1852-1931) 发明了干涉仪,用于测试以太的特性。该装置使用一组精心布置的镜子、玻璃板和半镀银镜(一半光线会被反射,另一半会穿过)来分开一束光线,然后重新组合。干涉仪可用于精确确定光的波长,但迈克尔逊有一个更大的目标:他将用它来测量“以太风”。
In 1881 Albert Michelson (1852–1931) created the interferometer to test the characteristics of the ether. The device used a carefully arranged set of mirrors, glass plates, and a half-silvered mirror (half the light would be reflected and half passed through) to divide a beam of light and then recombine it. The interferometer could be used to establish precisely the wavelengths of light, but Michelson had a bigger objective: he would use it to measure “ether wind.”
即使假设以太处于绝对静止状态,地球穿过以太的运动也应该会在地球绕太阳运动或垂直于太阳运动的方向上产生不同的“流动”速率。从数学角度来看,说地球在静止的以太中运动或说以太在静止的地球周围流动是完全相同的。因此,沿一个方向传播的光束不应具有与以直角发出的光束相同的速度,就像一条横穿湍急河流的船不会以与一条逆流而上的船相同的速度移动,即使它们以相同的速度划动。因此,通过构建一个类似于船的例子的实验,迈克尔逊希望测量以太“流动”的速率。
Even though the ether was assumed to be at absolute rest, the motion of the Earth through it should create a differential rate of “flow” in the direction of the motion of the Earth around the Sun or perpendicular to it. From a mathematical point of view it was exactly the same to say that the Earth was moving through a still ether or that the ether was flowing around a still Earth. Thus, a beam of light going in one direction should not have the same velocity as a beam of light sent out at right angles, just as a boat going across a fast-flowing river does not move at the same velocity as a boat rowing up the river, even if they are being rowed at the same rate. Therefore, by constructing an experiment analogous to the boat example, Michelson hoped to measure the rate of the “current” of the ether.
1885 年,迈克尔逊与化学家爱德华·威廉姆斯·莫利(Edward Williams Morley,1838-1923)联手完善了干涉仪测试的条件(见图9.1)。他们推断,如果由于以太“风”的存在,分开的光束以不同的速度传播,那么当光线重新组合时,它将脱离相位,从而产生明显的条纹图案或明暗区域。他们竭尽全力消除所有误差源,但经过许多天和数月的多次测试,他们没有观察到光束速度的任何差异。他们的实验似乎失败了。亨德里克·洛伦兹(1853-1928)提出了洛伦兹-菲茨杰拉德收缩理论来解释失败的原因,他认为设备实际上在运动线上变短了,这种收缩刚好足以使光束回到相位。虽然这是一个巧妙的解决方案,但它并不是一个特别令人满意的解决方案,因为它表明不可能研究以太。
In 1885 Michelson joined forces with chemist Edward Williams Morley (1838–1923) to perfect the conditions for the interferometer tests (see figure 9.1). They reasoned that if the divided beam of light traveled at different velocities because of the ether “wind,” when the light was recombined it would be out of phase and thus would produce a noticeable pattern of fringes or areas of light and dark. They went to great lengths to eliminate all sources of error, but after many tests over many days and months they could observe no difference in the velocity of the light beams. Their experiment seemed a failure. Hendrik Lorentz (1853–1928) advanced the Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction theory to explain the failure by arguing that the equipment actually got physically shorter along the line of motion and that this contraction was just enough to put the light beams back in phase. While this was an ingenious solution, it was not a particularly satisfying one, since it suggested that it was not possible to study the ether.
9.1迈克尔逊和莫利实验的以太漂移装置(1887 年)
9.1 ETHER DRIFT APPARATUS FROM MICHELSON AND MORLEY’S EXPERIMENT (1887)
以太问题一直存在,直到 1905 年提出了关于光如何运作的新观点。当阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦 (1879-1955) 首次发表关于光和相对论的著作时,他似乎不太可能成为一系列精彩物理学见解的来源。他的早年生活因家庭多次搬家而受到干扰。他在学校表现很好,但因为他是犹太人,有点局外人,所以他最初并没有以研究为目标,而是希望成为一名学校老师。从苏黎世联邦理工学院毕业后,他受雇于瑞士专利局担任技术审查员;这让他有时间思考他感兴趣的物理问题,因为他经常可以在午餐前完成一天的工作。爱因斯坦是一位非常优秀的数学家(他曾经在学校数学不及格的说法是不真实的),但他最大的优势在于将问题概念化,以便可以创造新方法来解决问题。
There the matter of the ether stood until a new view of how light functioned was presented in 1905. When Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first published his work on light and relativity, he seemed an unlikely source for a series of brilliant insights in physics. His early life had been disrupted as his family moved a number of times. He did well in school, but because he was Jewish and a bit of an outsider, he did not initially aim for a research career, hoping instead to become a school teacher. After he graduated from the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, he was employed in the Swiss patent office as a technical examiner; this afforded him the time to think about questions that interested him in physics since he could frequently do his day’s work before lunch. Einstein was a very good mathematician (the story that he once failed mathematics in school is untrue), but his greatest strength was in conceptualizing problems in such a way that new approaches could be created to tackle them.
1905 年爱因斯坦的奇迹之年堪比 1666 年的牛顿。那一年他发表了五篇论文:两篇关于布朗运动,两篇关于狭义相对论,一篇关于光电效应中的光量子。他的论文《论在《运动物体的电动力学》一书中,爱因斯坦研究了迈克尔逊-莫雷实验中研究的光的运动。爱因斯坦问自己,如果一个人在光束上行进,会看到什么。他对这种运动做出了两个假设:首先,物体的运动必须相对于其他点或物体的运动来考虑。这个假设对于建立参考系是必要的,参考系是任意的,而不是像牛顿物理学中那样绝对的。
In 1905 Einstein had something of an annus mirabilis comparable to Newton’s of 1666. In that year he published five papers: two on Brownian motion, two on special relativity, and one on light quantum in the photoelectric effect. His paper, “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies,” looked at the motion of light as investigated by the Michelson-Morley experiment. Einstein asked himself what one would see if one were traveling on a beam of light. He made two assumptions about this motion: first, that the motion of an object must be considered relative to the motion of some other point or object. This assumption was necessary to establish the frame of reference, which was arbitrary rather than absolute as it had been in Newtonian physics.
其次,爱因斯坦假设真空中的光速始终保持不变,无论光源或观察者如何运动。想象一下你站在一列疾驰的火车前部。如果你向前扔一块石头,石头的速度等于石头加上火车的速度。但如果你从火车前部用手电筒照射,光的速度将与火车站有人打开的手电筒发出的光的速度相同。这一假设的奇怪之处之一是,它本身并不能排除物体在真空中的速度超过光速的可能性(或者更实际地说,如果两束光以相反的方向投射会发生什么),但它解释了这种物体无法被我们感知到,因此在我们的参考系中并不真正“存在”。
Second, Einstein assumed that the velocity of light in a vacuum would always be the same, regardless of the motion of the light source or the motion of the observer. Picture yourself standing at the front of a speeding train. If you threw a rock forward, the rock would have the velocity of rock plus train. But if you were to shine a flashlight from the front of the train, the light would have the same velocity as light from a flashlight switched on by someone at the train station. One of the curious things about this assumption was that it did not by itself rule out objects going faster than the speed of light in a vacuum (or in more practical terms, what would happen if two beams of light were projected in opposite directions), but it explained that such objects could not be sensed by us and therefore did not really “exist” in our frame of reference.
这里,爱因斯坦扩展了伽利略的观察。伽利略曾描述过这样一种情形:一个人在一艘行驶的船上从桅杆顶部扔下一块石头。对于船上的人来说,石头似乎是垂直落下,落在桅杆底部。而对于岸上的观察者来说,石头似乎是沿抛物线落下的。哪个观察者看到了石头的“真实”运动?答案是,他们都看到了真实运动,但由于他们所处的参考系不同,他们所看到的是不同的,每个运动都与自己的运动有关。相对论的概念粉碎了牛顿的确定性,而牛顿的确定性是基于对宇宙中作用的单一真实看法。它还破坏了以太理论,该理论要求以太在所有参考系中都是静止的;也就是说,当所有物体(例如地球)穿过以太时,以太保持静止。
Here Einstein extended an observation made by Galileo, who had described a situation in which a person on a moving ship dropped a rock from the top of the mast. To the people on the ship, the rock would appear to fall straight down, landing at the base of the mast. To an observer on the shore, the rock would appear to fall in a parabola. Which observer saw the “true” motion of the rock? The answer was that they both saw the true motion, but because of their frames of reference, what they saw was different, each being relative to their own motion. The concept of relativity shattered Newtonian certainty, which had been based on a single true view of action in the universe. It also undermined ether theory, which had required the ether to be stationary for all frames of reference; that is, the ether remained still while all objects (the Earth, for example) moved through it.
尽管爱因斯坦的工作具有激进的哲学含义,但他关于光的论证与观察结果相符。然而,这导致了一些关于质量和能量之间关系的奇怪含义,而不仅仅是关于参考系的问题。在他的第二篇关于相对论的论文《物体的惯性是否取决于其能量含量?》中,爱因斯坦探讨了运动对物体的影响。根据牛顿体系——a = F/m,其中F是力,m是质量,a是加速度——可以得出,如果质量是恒定的(根据牛顿体系的定义,它是不变的),并且施加的力是恒定的,那么物体可以无限加速到任何速度。但是,如果光速是最大速度,并且有一个恒定的力推动物体,物体的加速度必须随着速度的增加而减小,直到物体以光速运动时加速度最终变为零。此外,如果爱因斯坦是对的,那么改变牛顿方程来检查质量,m = F/a,当加速度减小到零时,质量会增加,但力保持不变,这违反了牛顿物理学中假设的质量守恒定律。另一种说法是,当物体运动得更快时,它的质量会增加,但这在牛顿系统中似乎在逻辑上是不可能的。
While the philosophical implications of Einstein’s work were radical, his argument about light accorded with observation. Yet this led to some strange implications about the relationship between mass and energy, not just about the problem of frames of reference. In his second paper on relativity, “Does the Inertia of a Body Depend on Its Energy Content?” Einstein explored the effect motion would have on objects. According to the Newtonian system – a = F/m, where F was force, m was mass, and a was acceleration – it followed that if mass was constant (it was unchangeable by definition in the Newtonian system) and the applied force was constant, then an object could accelerate indefinitely to any velocity. However, if the velocity of light was a maximum velocity, and there was a constant force pushing the object, the acceleration of the body had to decrease as the velocity increased, until eventually the acceleration became zero when the object was traveling at the velocity of light. Further, if Einstein was right, then changing the Newtonian equation around to examine the mass, m = F/a, produced an increase in mass as acceleration decreased toward zero but the force remained constant, which violated the conservation of mass assumed in Newton’s physics. Another way of saying this is that as an object traveled faster, its mass increased, but that seemed logically impossible in the Newtonian system.
解决质量增加或减少问题的方法是认识到当物体以不同的速度移动时,质量不会消失或创造,而是质量和能量是单一实体的不同方面。正如焦耳在热力学中表明的那样,能量不会消失或创造,但可以从一种形式转换为另一种形式。质量和能量的等价性有着直接的应用,因为它有助于解释放射性问题,其中能量似乎无处不在。实际发生的是质量转化为其他形式的能量;通过仔细观察,人们发现放射性物质会失去质量。爱因斯坦推导出能量与质量的关系,并得出了历史上最著名的方程式:E=mc2 ,其中E是能量,m是质量,c是真空中的光速。c的使用来自拉丁语celeritas ,意为“速度”。
The way around the problem of increasing or decreasing mass was to realize that mass was not being created or destroyed as the object moved at different speeds, but that mass and energy were different aspects of a single entity. As Joule had shown for thermodynamics, energy could not be created or destroyed, but it could be converted from one form to another. The equivalence of mass and energy had immediate application, since it helped explain the problem of radioactivity, where energy seemed to come from nowhere. What was actually happening was the conversion of mass to other forms of energy; by careful observation it was found that radioactive materials lost mass. Einstein worked out the relation of energy to mass and produced the most famous equation in history: E = mc2, where E is energy, m is mass, and c is the velocity of light in a vacuum. The use of c comes from the Latin celeritas meaning “velocity.”
如果摧毁牛顿的绝对运动和恒定质量概念还不够的话,爱因斯坦的相对论还摧毁了绝对时间。当一个物体相对于一个静止的观察者移动得更快时,物体所经过的时间将不同于观察者所经过的时间。事实上,以每秒 260,000 公里(接近每秒 300,000 公里的光速)行驶的火箭飞船的乘客所经历的时间只有静止观察者所经历的时间的一半。静止观察者的时钟经过一小时后,火箭的时钟将显示只过去了 30 分钟。
If destroying the Newtonian concept of absolute motion and constant mass was not enough, Einstein’s theory of relativity also destroyed absolute time. As an object went faster relative to a stationary observer, the time elapsed for the object would be different than that elapsed for the observer. In fact, the occupant of a rocket ship traveling at 260,000 kilometers per second (close to the speed of light at 300,000 kilometers per second) would experience only half the time elapsed that a stationary observer would experience. After one hour by the stationary observer’s clock, the rocket’s clock would show that only 30 minutes had gone by.
爱因斯坦 1905 年的著作被称为“狭义相对论”,因为他研究的是物体经历匀速运动的一种特殊情况或一类关系。虽然宇宙中的大量物体都属于这一范畴,但狭义相对论并未涵盖所有关系。爱因斯坦继续研究相对论,并于 1915 年提出广义相对论,其中包括加速系统,例如由重力加速度表示的系统。由于宇宙是由引力构成的,因此相对论涵盖了最大的图景。在其中,时空被视为不平坦的四维几何结构。凸起、隆起和凹陷代表了连续体的引力扭曲。想象一下,将中间装有保龄球的橡胶片拉成锥形。如果你尝试将弹珠从橡胶片的一侧滚到另一侧,它们会绕着锥体弯曲,其中一些会向下滚动与保龄球汇合,而不是滚到另一侧。其他弹珠即使滚到另一侧,也会沿着弯曲的轨迹而不是直线滚动。与其说是保龄球吸引弹珠,不如说是弹珠和保龄球通过橡胶片的几何形状联系在一起。
Einstein’s 1905 work was called “special relativity” because he was examining a special case or class of relationships in which things experienced uniform motion. While a large number of objects in the universe were covered by this, special relativity did not cover all relationships. Einstein continued to work on relativity, introducing in 1915 general relativity, which included accelerated systems, such as those represented by acceleration due to gravity. Since the universe is constructed by gravitational forces, relativity covers the biggest of big pictures. In it, space-time is considered as a four-dimensional geometric construct that is uneven. The bumps, lumps, and hollows represent the gravitational distortion of the continuum. Imagine that a sheet of rubber with a bowling ball in the center is pulled down into a cone shape. If you try to roll marbles from one side of the sheet to the other, they will curve around the cone, some of them going down to join the bowling ball rather than making it to the far side. The others will follow a curved trajectory rather than a straight line, even if they make it to the far side. Rather than saying that the bowling ball attracts the marbles, we see the marbles and the bowling ball as linked by the geometry of the rubber sheet.
广义相对论将能量、质量、时间、运动和重力联系在一起。爱因斯坦的许多理论思想后来都通过实验得到证实,例如时间膨胀,即同步原子钟在不同速度下移动时会不同步。其他实验表明,伽马射线在落入重力场时会获得能量,而太阳的引力会导致光线弯曲。爱因斯坦的工作推翻了牛顿世界观的大部分内容,但与伽利略和牛顿物理学摧毁亚里士多德物理学不同,牛顿的大部分实用性保持不变。在地球参考系中,世界仍然基本上是牛顿的,但牛顿主义在更大的系统中成为一个特例。相对论确实破坏了以太的必要性。
General relativity linked energy, mass, time, motion, and gravity. Many of Einstein’s theoretical ideas were later demonstrated experimentally, such as time dilation, in which synchronized atomic clocks went out of sync when they were moved at different velocities. Other experiments showed that gamma rays gained energy when falling into a gravity field and that the gravity of the Sun could cause light to curve. Einstein’s work overturned much of the Newtonian worldview, but unlike the destruction of Aristotelian physics by Galilean and Newtonian physics, much of Newton’s utility remained unchanged. In the terrestrial frame of reference, the world continued to be basically Newtonian, but Newtonianism became a special case within a larger system. What relativity did undermine was the necessity of an ether.
然而,相对论本身并不是经典物理学或牛顿物理学的彻底终结。考虑一下E = mc 2和F = ma的形式。尽管爱因斯坦方程的简单性隐藏了一个具有相对而非绝对参考点的世界,但它也表明了宇宙的一定程度的确定性。可能存在完全不同的参考系、在不同时间移动的时钟和其他奇怪的现象,但在给定的参考系内,你可以找到物理问题的明确答案。事实上,爱因斯坦强烈反对宇宙以不确定的方式运行的说法,他有句名言:“我不相信上帝会选择和世界掷骰子。” 1
Relativity was not, by itself, the complete death of classical or Newtonian physics, however. Consider the form of E = mc2 and F = ma. Although the simplicity of Einstein’s equation hides a world with relative rather than absolute reference points, it also suggests a degree of certainty about the universe. There might be radically different frames of reference, clocks that moved at different times and other strange phenomena, but within a given frame of reference, you could find definite answers to physical questions. Indeed, Einstein was strongly opposed to proposals that the universe behaved in uncertain ways, famously saying, “I can’t believe that God would choose to play dice with the world.”1
爱因斯坦的工作为学术研究的最高水平打开了大门,他担任过多个职位,直到 1914 年被任命为柏林威廉皇帝物理研究所所长,并成为洪堡大学的教授。1921 年,爱因斯坦获得了诺贝尔物理学奖,讽刺的是,他不是因为相对论的工作,而是因为他在光电效应方面的工作。尽管爱因斯坦在物理学界享有盛誉,但他还不是他会成为国际巨星。但第一次世界大战的灾难性事件掩盖了这些考虑。
Einstein’s work opened the doors to the highest levels of academic research, and he held a number of posts until in 1914 he was appointed the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin and also became a professor at the Humboldt University. In 1921 Einstein won the Nobel Prize in Physics, ironically not for his work on relativity, but rather for his work on the photoelectric effect. Although Einstein was well known in the physics world, he was not yet the international star he would become. Such considerations were overshadowed by the calamitous events of the Great War.
当理论物理学家探索观察的极限时,先进化学和物理学的思想、技术和工具对另一个科学领域产生了重大影响。整个十九世纪的生物学主要由实地观察、分类和解剖组成。随着实验室研究的引入,一些生物学家采用了一种更具实验性的方法,这也是由于新工具的出现而成为可能。这些新工具包括更好的显微镜和细胞染色技术(源自 Perkin 的苯胺染料)、X 射线和晶体学的使用,以及其他改进的有机化学方法,这些方法使得处理细胞的敏感物质成为可能。化学和物理学的工具和技术的交叉创造了现代细胞生物学。当与从数学中借用的统计方法相结合时,生物学家创造了“新综合”,通过将遗传学的微生物学和化学纳入自然选择的宏观生物学,产生了一个强大的新进化模型。
While theoretical physicists explored the limits of observation, the ideas, techniques, and tools of advanced chemistry and physics had a significant impact on another area of science. Biology throughout the nineteenth century had consisted largely of field observation, classification, and anatomy. With the introduction of laboratory-based research, some biologists adopted a more experimental approach, made possible also because of new tools. These included better microscopes and cell-staining techniques (descended from Perkin’s aniline dye), the use of X-rays and crystallography, and other improved methods of organic chemistry that made dealing with the sensitive materials of cells possible. The crossover of tools and techniques from chemistry and physics created modern cellular biology. When combined with statistical methods borrowed from mathematics, biologists created the “new synthesis,” which produced a powerful new model of evolution by folding the microbiology and chemistry of genetics into the macrobiology of natural selection.
生物学家并不全心全意地支持达尔文的自然选择进化论,因为它缺乏遗传机制——为了选择变异,变异必须传递给下一代,而没有明确的方法来做到这一点。达尔文本人提出了一种称为泛起源的理论:每个父母都会为后代贡献“芽孢”,这些芽孢以某种方式留在体内,以便在时机成熟时用于繁殖。即使是达尔文也觉得这个解释不能令人满意,但过了一段时间才有人接受挑战,主要是因为达尔文的理论吸引了野外博物学家,而不是实验室生物学家。直到实验和实验室实践成为生物学家工具包的一部分,科学家才开始在细胞层面研究遗传。
Biologists did not wholeheartedly support Darwinian evolution by natural selection because it lacked a mechanism for inheritance – in order for variation to be selected, that variation had to be passed to the next generation, and there was no clear way for this to happen. Darwin himself had proposed a theory called pan-genesis: each parent contributed “gemmules” to the offspring, and these gemmules somehow remained in the body to be used for reproduction when the time came. Even Darwin found this explanation unsatisfactory, but it was some time before anyone took up the challenge, largely because Darwin’s theory had attracted field naturalists rather than laboratory biologists. It was not until experimentation and laboratory practice became part of the biologist’s tool kit that scientists could begin to investigate inheritance at a cellular level.
理解进化机制的努力越来越多地转向对细胞的检查。主要问题是如何将细胞事件与宏观生物学的结果。换句话说,生物学家如何将细胞内部发生的事情与整个生物体的结构、发育和行为联系起来?第一次尝试是在引入新的实验室技术之前,当时一位奥古斯丁修道士在摩拉维亚进行了一项漫长而艰巨的植物育种实验。约翰·格雷戈尔·孟德尔(1822-84)是西里西亚农民的儿子。他像许多贫穷但聪明的男孩一样,在修道院学校接受教育。后来,他加入了布伦的奥古斯丁修道会,继续在维也纳大学学习。他在 1856 年左右开始对植物遗传进行艰苦的研究。当他完成研究并在成为修道院院长后将其搁置一旁时,他已经培育和检查了超过 28,000 株豌豆植物。他确定了七种具有两种不同形式并且代代相传的特征。(见图9.2。)
Efforts to understand the mechanism of evolution moved more and more to the examination of the cell. The major problem was how to relate cellular events to the macrobiological result. In other words, how could biologists connect what happened inside the cell with the structure, development, and behavior of the complete organism? The first attempt to do so came before the introduction of new laboratory techniques, with a long and arduous plant-breeding experiment undertaken by an Augustinian monk in Moravia. Johann Gregor Mendel (1822–84) was the son of Silesian peasants. He got his education as many poor but bright boys did by going to a monastery school. He later joined the Augustinian Order at Brünn and went on to study at Vienna University. He began his painstaking work on plant heredity around 1856. By the time he finished his research, setting it aside when he became abbot, he had bred and examined more than 28,000 pea plants. He identified seven characteristics that had two distinct forms and that bred true from generation to generation. (See figure 9.2.)
9.2孟德尔的七个特性
9.2 MENDEL’S SEVEN CHARACTERISTICS
1. 1. | 成熟种子的形态 Form of ripe seed |
2. 2. | 种子蛋白的颜色 Colour of seed albumen |
3. 3. | 种皮颜色 Colour of seed coat |
4. 4. | 成熟豆荚的形状 Form of ripe pods |
5. 5. | 未成熟豆荚的颜色 Colour of unripe pods |
6. 6. | 花的位置 Position of flowers |
7. 7. | 茎长 Length of stem |
随后,他用不同形态的植物进行杂交,发现这些特征并没有混合在一起,而是保持了离散性。此外,他发现植物的连续几代在后代的特征表现上遵循着一个清晰的模式。一些特征是显性的,另一些是隐性的。换句话说,如果将具有圆形种子(显性)的植物与具有凹凸不平种子(隐性)的植物进行杂交或培育,那么第一代的所有后代都会有圆形的种子。但隐性特征并没有消失;它只是没有在植物的形状上表现出来。在下一代中,培育两种杂交植物产生了圆形和凹凸不平的种子的混合物,因为一定比例的后代获得了显性特征,而较少数量的后代只获得了隐性特征。显性与隐性外观的比例为 3:1,但就这两种特征的分布而言,它代表了四种遗传组合:圆形/圆形、圆形/凹凸不平、凹凸不平/圆形和凹凸不平。通过杂交或杂交具有不同特征的植物,孟德尔展示了一种遗传代数来解释特征的转移。对于两个特征,分布为 9:3:3:1。(见图9.3。)
He then crossbred plants with alternate forms and found that the traits did not blend but remained discrete. Further, he discovered that successive generations of plants followed a clear pattern in the appearance of characteristics in the offspring. Some characteristics were dominant and others recessive. In other words, if a plant with round seeds (dominant) was crossed or bred with a plant with bumpy seeds (recessive), all the offspring in the first generation would have round seeds. But the recessive characteristic did not disappear; it was just not expressed in the shape of the plant. In the next generation, breeding two hybrid plants produced a mixture of round and bumpy seeds, as a certain percentage of offspring received dominant characteristics and a smaller number received only recessive characteristics. The ratio of dominant to recessive appearance worked out to 3:1, but in terms of the distribution of the two characteristics it represented four genetic combinations: round/round, round/bumpy, bumpy/round, and bumpy/bumpy. By crossing or hybridizing plants with different characteristics, Mendel demonstrated an algebra of inheritance to explain the transferral of characteristics. For two characteristics, the distribution was 9:3:3:1. (See figure 9.3.)
9.3孟德尔种子代数
9.3 MENDEL’S SEED ALGEBRA
孟德尔的研究确定了两个关键概念,有时被称为分离定律和独立分配定律。分离定律确定了遗传特征与有性生殖之间的联系。创造一个特征需要两个部分,每个部分来自父母。这两个部分必须是同一类型的材料,但可以是不同的版本。在繁殖时,每个父母都贡献了恰好一半的物质,这意味着细胞中控制特征的物质必须在配子(精子或卵子)产生过程中分离。由于产生特征的物质的分布,独立分配定律认为,不同的特征彼此独立(如代数图所示),因此后代的特征比率是固定的。孟德尔的工作解释了返祖现象,并推翻了混合遗传的概念。它与进化无关,事实上,它似乎使进化的可能性降低,因为离散的遗传单位似乎没有改变。
Mendel’s work identified two key concepts which have sometimes been called the law of segregation and the law of independent assortment. The law of segregation identified the link between inherited characteristics and sexual reproduction. Two parts, one from each parent, were needed to create a characteristic. Those two parts had to be the same type of material but could be different versions. In reproduction each parent contributed exactly half of the material, which meant that whatever it was in the cell that controlled the characteristic had to segregate during gamete (sperm or egg) production. Because of the distribution of characteristic-producing material, the law of independent assortment said that variant characteristics remained independent of each other (as the algebraic illustration makes clear), and thus there were fixed ratios of characteristics in the offspring. Mendel’s work explained atavism (throwbacks) and disproved the idea of blended inheritance. It had nothing to say about evolution and, indeed, seemed to make evolution less possible, since discrete units of inheritance did not seem to change.
孟德尔在 1865 年的布伦自然科学学会会议上宣读了描述这项研究的论文,该论文发表在学会的期刊上,但这篇论文几乎没有对生物学界产生影响。孟德尔亲自寄给达尔文的论文副本未被阅读,一直留在达尔文的图书馆里。这种缺乏认可的原因并不难理解。孟德尔是修道院的一名僧侣,远离科学活动的主要中心,因此不为生物学界所知。生物学的热门话题是进化论,但他的工作看起来像是园艺学的一个分支——植物育种。此外,孟德尔发现的结果似乎无法转移到其他物种。孟德尔将他的研究结果寄给了德国最杰出的植物学家卡尔·威廉·冯·内格利 (Karl Wilhelm von Nägeli,1817-91 年),内格利对他的发现提出了质疑,并建议他研究山柳菊。由于山柳菊不能进行纯种繁殖,因此它无法表现出豌豆植物所表现出的模式,从而挑战了孟德尔结果的普遍性。此外,孟德尔的统计理论没有物质基础。这些遗传单位是什么?
Mendel read his paper describing this research at the Brünn Natural Scientific Society meeting in 1865, and it was published in the society’s journal, but the paper had almost no impact on the biological research community. The copy of the paper that Mendel personally sent to Darwin went unread, remaining unopened in Darwin’s library. The reasons for this lack of recognition are not hard to understand. Mendel was a monk in a monastery far from the main centers of scientific activity and so was not known to the biological community. The hot topic in biology was evolution, but his work looked like plant breeding, a branch of horticulture. Moreover, the results Mendel found did not seem transferable to other species. Mendel sent his results to the foremost German botanist, Karl Wilhelm von Nägeli (1817–91), who questioned his findings and suggested he work on the plant hawkweed. Because hawkweed does not breed true, it failed to show the pattern that the pea plants had exhibited and so challenged the universality of Mendel’s results. Further, there was no material basis for Mendel’s statistical theory. What were these units of inheritance?
孟德尔的研究提供了一种预测多代人中特征分布情况的方法。它还指出,父母双方传递的信息对后代具有同等重要性。后代。虽然几代人都认识到生殖是了解后代可能特征的关键,但对于有性生殖的贡献比例存在很多困惑,认为雌性只是雄性特征的创造材料载体,只传递给雄性,雌性特征只传递给雌性。孟德尔的研究表明,在有性生殖中,每个父母都贡献了创造新生物所需的一半物质和信息。
Mendel’s work offered a method for predicting how characteristics were distributed in a population over multiple generations. It also directed attention to the equal importance of material communicated from each parent to the offspring. While it had been recognized for generations that reproduction was the key to understanding the likely characteristics of offspring, there was much confusion about the proportion of contribution in sexual reproduction, ranging from the female as mere vessel for the creative material of the male-to-male characteristics passing only to males and female characteristics only to females. Mendel’s work demonstrated that in sexual reproduction each parent contributed half of the matter and information necessary to create a new organism.
19 世纪 80 年代,奥古斯特·魏斯曼 (1834-1915) 试图通过实验室演示繁殖,用显微镜观察细胞分裂,来反驳达尔文的泛源论。魏斯曼认为细胞是不朽的(因为单细胞生物通过分裂无限繁殖),细胞核在将遗传特征信息从亲本传递给后代方面起着主要作用。他观察到有丝分裂(细胞分裂成相同对的过程)中细胞核的纵向分裂,这表明生殖质(他称之为遗传的物质实体)存在于细胞核中。由于有性生殖导致来自每个亲本的生殖质组合,因此通过许多可能的染色体组合产生了变异。从这些发现得出的合理结论是,遗传完全基于内部生物因素(硬遗传),而不是任何环境影响或获得性特征的遗传。
During the 1880s August Weismann (1834–1915) attempted to disprove Darwin’s pan-genesis theory through a laboratory demonstration of reproduction, using microscopic observation of cell division. Weismann argued that cells were immortal (since one-celled organisms reproduced indefinitely through division) and that the cell nucleus had the main role in passing information about genetic traits from parent to offspring. He observed the longitudinal split of the nucleus in mitosis (the process of division of a cell into identical pairs), which suggested that the germ plasm (as he called the material substance of inheritance) resided in the nucleus. Since sexual reproduction resulted in the combination of germ plasm from each parent, variation was produced through the many possible chromosomal combinations. The logical conclusion from these findings was that heredity was based exclusively on internal biological factors (hard heredity) rather than on any environmental influence or the inheritance of acquired characteristics.
尽管进行了这些研究,或者可能正是因为这些研究,细胞在微观层面上的行为与宏观层面上进化的证据之间的联系仍然不明确,直到 1900 年孟德尔的研究成果被重新发现。三位研究人员 Hugo de Vries(1848-1935 年)、CE Correns(1864-1935 年)和 E. von Tschermak(1871-1962 年)都在研究植物种群的变异率,他们发现了孟德尔的研究成果并认识到其重要性。De Vries 将遗传的单位特征称为“pangens”,很快就缩写为“基因”。他还认识到,尽管孟德尔的系统允许代际变异,但如果要发生进化,就需要发生重大转变。他在 1901 年出版的《突变论》一书中将突然的变化称为“突变” ,并提出这可能是理解新特征引入的一种方式。 1903 年,沃尔特·萨顿 (Walter Sutton,1877-1916 年) 出版了《遗传染色体理论》一书,缩小了遗传活动的目标范围。他认为基因由染色体携带,每个卵子或精子细胞仅包含一半染色体。实际上,德弗里斯和萨顿发现了孟德尔研究预测的细胞系统。
Despite, or perhaps because of, these investigations, the link between the behavior of cells at the microscopic level and the evidence of evolution at a macroscopic one was still unclear until Mendel’s work was rediscovered in 1900. Three researchers, Hugo de Vries (1848–1935), C.E. Correns (1864–1935), and E. von Tschermak (1871–1962), all working on rates of variation in plant populations, discovered Mendel’s work and recognized its importance. De Vries labeled the unit characteristics of heredity “pangens,” which was soon shortened to “genes.” He also recognized that although Mendel’s system allowed variation through generations, it would require major shifts if evolution was to occur. He called the sudden changes “mutations” in his 1901 book Die Mutationstheorie and suggested that this might be a way to understand the introduction of new characteristics. In 1903 Walter Sutton’s (1877–1916) book The Chromosomes Theory of Heredity narrowed the target area of genetic activity. He argued that genes are carried by chromosomes and that each egg or sperm cell contains only half of the chromosome pair. In effect, de Vries and Sutton discovered the cellular system predicted by Mendel’s work.
染色体并不是在某个瞬间被发现的,而是由 19 世纪许多从事细胞生物学研究的人观察到的。世纪。马蒂亚斯·雅各布·施莱登 (1804-81 年)、鲁道夫·菲尔绍 (1821-1902 年) 和奥托·布奇利 (1848-1920 年) 都注意到了这种细胞内结构,随着显微镜的改进和人工染料对细胞的染色,这种结构变得易于观察。沃尔特·弗莱明 (1843-1905 年) 观察到细胞核在细胞分裂过程中分裂,并推测细胞核会代代相传,他说“ omnis nucleus e nucleo ”(“每个细胞核都来自一个细胞核”)。弗莱明没有观察到染色体的平等分裂,错过了染色体在遗传中的作用的一个关键点。染色体由海因里希·威廉·冯·瓦尔代尔-哈茨 (1836-1912 年) 命名,结合了希腊语中表示颜色的单词 (chroma) 和身体 (soma),因为染色体能强烈吸收染料。
The chromosome was not exactly discovered as a single moment of insight, but rather was observed by a number of people doing cell biology in the nineteenth century. Matthias Jakob Schleiden (1804–81), Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902), and Otto Bütschli (1848–1920) all noted this intracellular structure that was made observable by better microscopes and the introduction of cell stains from artificial dyes. Walther Flemming (1843–1905) observed that the nucleus of a cell split during cell division and theorized that the nucleus was passed on from generation to generation, saying “omnis nucleus e nucleo” (“every nucleus from a nucleus”). Flemming did not observe the chromosome split equally, missing a key point in its role in heredity. The chromosome was named by Heinrich Wilhelm von Waldeyer-Hartz (1836–1912), combining the Greek word for color (chroma) and body (soma), since the chromosome strongly absorbed dye.
德国的西奥多·博韦里(1862-1915)和美国的沃尔特·萨顿两位科学家分别独立证明了遗传的染色体理论。埃德蒙·比彻·威尔逊(1856-1939)的《细胞的发育和遗传》(1902)发表了博韦里-萨顿染色体理论,此后染色体成为人们深入研究的对象。1923 年,西奥菲勒斯·佩因特(1889-1969)发表了他的观察结果,即人类有 48 条染色体。1956 年,随着更好的工具的使用,乔·欣·吉奥(1919-2001)和阿尔伯特·莱万(1905-98)得以进行更详细的检查,人类染色体的数量减少到 46 条。这反过来又导致了基因的发现,基因是染色体的特定部分。 1910 年,托马斯·亨特·摩尔根 (Thomas Hunt Morgan,1866-1945) 首次证明了这一点,并由此绘制出染色体“图谱”,将生物体的物理特征与染色体上的特定位置联系起来。
Two scientists, Theodor Boveri (1862–1915) in Germany and Walter Sutton in the United States, independently demonstrated the chromosome theory of inheritance. Following the publication of Edmund Beecher Wilson’s (1856–1939) The Cell in Development and Heredity (1902) that promoted the Boveri-Sutton chromosome theory, the chromosome became the target of intense study. In 1923 Theophilus Painter (1889–1969) published his observation that humans had 48 chromosomes. In 1956 the number of human chromosomes was reduced to 46 when better tools allowed Joe Hin Tjio (1919–2001) and Albert Levan (1905–98) to do a more detailed examination. This in turn led to the discovery of genes, which were specific sections of chromosomes. This was first demonstrated by Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866–1945) in 1910 and led to chromosomal “maps” that linked the physical characteristics of an organism to specific locations on the chromosomes.
尽管染色体被确立为将遗传信息从一代传递到下一代的细胞体,但还需要40年的时间才能破译基因如何发挥作用的化学基础。
Although the chromosome was established as the cellular body that transmitted the information of heredity from generation to generation, it would take another 40 years to decode the chemical basis of how a gene worked.
1885 年,列强在柏林西非会议上会面,结果几乎使战争不可避免。从许多方面来看,这次会议标志着殖民主义的顶峰,因为西方主要国家开会讨论贸易和航行问题,并瓜分非洲未被占领的土地。(见图9.4。)对德国来说,这是对其作为经济和政治超级大国地位上升的一次考验。尽管德国在 1871 年才成为一个统一的国家,但它已经在挑战英国的工业实力,并试图建立符合其欧洲强国地位的殖民地。德国加入争夺非洲殖民地的竞争很晚。殖民地,因此风险很大。国际地位、资源获取、军事优势和政治利益都可从殖民地获得。然而,会议并没有取得俾斯麦总理所希望的成果。尽管德国确实吞并了坦噶尼喀和桑给巴尔,但这些领土的价值远低于小国所拥有的领土,例如比利时对刚果的控制或葡萄牙在安哥拉的殖民地。
When the Great Powers met at the Berlin West Africa Conference in 1885, the results made war almost inevitable. In many ways the conference marked the apex of colonialism, as the major Western nations met to discuss trade and navigation and to divide up the unclaimed portions of Africa. (See figure 9.4.) For Germany it was a test of its rising status as an economic and political superpower. Although it had only become a unified state in 1871, Germany was already challenging the industrial might of Britain and sought to establish colonial holdings in accord with its status as a European power. Germany had been late entering the race for colonies, so much was at stake. International status, access to resources, military advantage, and political benefits could be derived from colonial holdings. The conference did not produce the gains Chancellor Otto von Bismarck had hoped for, however. Although Germany did annex Tanganyika and Zanzibar, these territories were far less valuable than those held by small states, such as Belgium’s control of the Congo or Portugal’s colony in Angola.
9.4 1885 年柏林会议后的非洲
9.4 AFRICA AFTER THE BERLIN CONFERENCE, 1885
作为欧洲强国,德国面临着艰难的处境。它的东部与俄罗斯这头“沉睡的熊”接壤,俄罗斯领土辽阔,自然资源无限,工业基础不断增长。西部是法国,虽然工业化程度不如德国,但自然资源更丰富,可以通往两大洋,还有大片殖民地。人们对德国怀有强烈的反感两国之间的紧张关系,尤其是因为普法战争,法国在这场战争中惨败,并导致德意志各邦于 1871 年统一。法国被迫将资源丰富的阿尔萨斯和洛林的部分地区割让给德国。控制海洋并拥有最大殖民帝国的是高度工业化的英国。尽管与法国长期存在紧张关系,但英国仍是德国的主要对手,而正是在与英国海上力量的对抗中,德国开始大规模扩充海军军备,这导致了第一次现代军备竞赛,双方都建造了更多更大的舰船。
Germany faced a difficult situation as a European power. It was bordered on the east by the “sleeping bear” of Russia with her huge territory, limitless natural resources, and growing industrial base. On the west was France, which was less industrialized than Germany but had better natural resources, access to two oceans, and significant colonial territory. There was much antipathy between the two countries not least because of the Franco-Prussian War, in which France was badly beaten and which led to the unification of the German states in 1871. France was forced to give up resource-rich Alsace and parts of Lorraine to Germany. Dominating the seas and holding the greatest colonial empire was the highly industrialized Britain. Despite long-standing tension with France, Britain became Germany’s main opponent, and it was in opposition to British sea power that Germany embarked on a massive naval arms build-up, which resulted in the first modern arms race, as each side built more and bigger ships.
为了成功推行帝国政策,德国社会的各个方面都必须团结起来,从田野里的农民到无畏舰桥上的船长。国家利益和商业利益往往是同义词,当俾斯麦推出欧洲第一个福利计划时,并不是出于社会主义倾向,而是为了保护德国工业劳动力并使其尽可能保持生产力。
To successfully pursue its imperial policy, all aspects of German society had to be harnessed together, from the farmer in the field to the captain on the bridge of the dreadnought. The interest of the state and the interests of business were often synonymous, and when Bismarck introduced the first welfare programs in Europe, it was not because of socialist leanings but rather to protect the German industrial workforce and keep it as productive as possible.
为了解决资源匮乏或开发国内资源成本高的问题,德国越来越多地转向科学技术。它创建了一个将学校和大学、工业、政府和研究科学家聚集在一起的综合系统。新的科学方法以教育系统为基础。政府不断推动教育的改善,到 20 世纪初,德国的识字率已达到欧洲最高。技术高中和学院为工业和商业部门培养了熟练的工人,而许多大学则鼓励高等教育,导致受过专业训练的科学家数量大幅增长。
To redress the lack of resources or high cost of exploiting domestic sources, Germany turned more and more to science and technology. It created an integrated system that brought together schools and universities, industry, government, and research scientists. The new approach to science had the educational system as its foundation. The government constantly promoted the improvement of education, and by the turn of the century Germany had the highest literacy rate in Europe. Technical high schools and colleges produced skilled workers for the industrial and business sectors, while advanced education was encouraged in the many universities, leading to a huge growth in the number of professionally trained scientists.
科学结构将三个主要实体联系起来:政府(包括军队)、企业和学术研究机构。政府资助教育并创建了一系列精英研究中心,特别是威廉皇帝研究所。教育系统旨在分流学生,最优秀的理科生将进入大学。这些学生中的佼佼者继续攻读研究生,为了促进这一点,德国大学引入了现代博士学位(哲学博士),该学位于 1810 年洪堡大学成立后不久首次颁发。博士学位不仅要求对某一学科有深入的了解,还要求具有进行原创研究的能力。在这个精英群体中,最优秀的人被招募到研究中心,而下一级的人则成为大学教授或被工业界招募。
The scientific structure linked three major entities: government (including the military), business, and academic research institutions. The government funded education and created a series of elite research centers, particularly the Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes. The education system was designed to stream students, with the best science students going on to university. The best of those students went on to graduate work, and to facilitate this the German universities introduced the modern PhD (Doctor of Philosophy), which was first awarded at Humboldt University shortly after its founding in 1810. The PhD required not only advanced knowledge of a subject but demonstrated ability to do original research. Of this elite group, the best were recruited to the research centers, while the next tier became university professors or were recruited by industry.
大学和研究中心则致力于解决对国家至关重要的问题。虽然科学家,尤其是那些顶尖科学家,没有被要求解决特定问题,但关于哪些课题对国家有帮助以及哪些科学工作可能具有工业应用,都有正式和非正式的讨论。因此,国家利益、商业利益和科学研究结合在一起。例如,赫尔曼·冯·亥姆霍兹(1821-94)和赫兹等人的电气研究处于理论物理学的前沿,但这些原理很快就被工程师转化为适合工业使用的材料。反过来,经验丰富的工程师和受过科学训练的技术人员被德国不断发展的工业抢购一空。
The universities and research centers in turn worked on problems of importance to the country. Although scientists, especially those at the top, were not commanded to work on particular problems, there were both formal and informal discussions about what topics would help the nation and what scientific work might have industrial applications. Thus, national interests, business interests, and scientific research were combined. For example, the electrical research of people such as Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–94) and Hertz was on the cutting edge of theoretical physics, but the principles were quickly converted into material suitable for industrial use by engineers. In turn, experienced engineers and scientifically trained technicians were snapped up by the growing industries of Germany.
这些正式和非正式的联系也由一些专门的科学协会维持。美国科学促进会和美国科学促进会(成立于 1848 年)曾试图成为志同道合的科学家的伞状组织,但科学家越来越依赖德国物理学会(1845 年)和美国化学学会(1876 年)等团体开展专业和社区活动。与英国皇家学会或法国科学院不同,新协会由同一学科的在职科学家组成。它们不仅通过会议和期刊为科学研究提供了渠道,还通过帮助人们找到工作,成为个人专业发展的重要资源,并在社区层面为政府提供建议,游说制定标准和法律,并促进学科发展。
These formal and informal ties were also maintained by a number of specialized scientific societies. The BAAS and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (founded in 1848) had tried to be umbrella organizations for like-minded men of science, but it was on groups such as the German Physical Society (1845) and the American Chemical Society (1876) that scientists increasingly relied for professional and community activities. Unlike the older Royal Society in Britain or the Académie des Sciences in France, the new societies were composed of working scientists within a single discipline. They not only provided a conduit for scientific research through conferences and journals but also became a vital resource for professional development on an individual level, by helping people get jobs, and on a community level as they advised governments, lobbied for standards and laws, and promoted the discipline.
弗里茨·哈伯 (Fritz Haber,1868-1934 年) 和卡尔·博世 (Carl Bosch,1874-1940 年) 是两位科学家,他们的经历代表了国家利益、工业和研究的交汇。由于德国人口的增长,农业面临的压力不断增加,但集约化农业加剧了土壤枯竭的问题。德国无法获得肥料所需的天然硝酸盐来源,这些硝酸盐主要来自鸟粪或鸟粪。世纪之交的主要来源是智利,1913 年,智利生产的硝酸盐占世界供应量的 56% 左右。更糟糕的是,英国公司控制了智利大部分的硝酸盐生产。1903 年,哈伯开始研究如何通过将大气中的氮转化为氨来“固定”它,氨不仅可用作肥料,还可作为其他氮产品的有用原料。基本工艺过程为反应 N 2 + 3H 2 = 2NH 3,但当时的生产方法需要大量电力,因此并不经济。1909 年,哈伯和罗伯特·勒罗西尼奥尔研究出一种连续流动法来生产氨;它需要一个可承受 200 个大气压并加热到 500°C 的反应容器。哈伯说服化学公司巴斯夫,该工艺可实现商业化,但为了实施该系统,巴斯夫不得不求助于钢铁制造商克虏伯来制造反应容器。克虏伯则求助于其科学家和工程师,开创了一种新的锻钢方法,以制造出能够承受压力和热量的容器。
Fritz Haber (1868–1934) and Carl Bosch (1874–1940) were two scientists whose experience typifies the intersection of national interest, industry, and research. Because of the rise in German population, pressure on agriculture was increasing, but intensive agriculture exacerbated the problem of soil depletion. Germany did not have secure access to natural sources of nitrates for fertilizers, which came primarily from guano, or bird droppings. The chief source at the turn of the century was Chile, which in 1913 produced about 56 per cent of the world supply of nitrates. To make matters worse for Germany, British companies controlled most of Chile’s nitrate production. In 1903 Haber began to investigate methods to “fix” atmospheric nitrogen by converting it to ammonia, which could then be used for fertilizer as well as providing a useful feedstock for other nitrogen products. The basic process created the reaction N2 + 3H2 = 2NH3, but the contemporary method of production required large amounts of electricity, which made it uneconomical. By 1909 Haber and Robert Le Rossignol had worked out a continuous flow method to produce ammonia; it required a reaction vessel that could withstand 200 atmospheres of pressure and be heated to 500°C. Haber convinced the chemical company BASF that the process could be made commercially viable, but to put the system into place BASF had to turn to the steelmaker Krupp to manufacture the reaction vessels. Krupp, in turn, went to its scientists and engineers to pioneer a new method of forging steel to create a container that could withstand the pressure and heat.
当所有元素组合在一起时,哈伯-博世系统生产出了大量廉价的氨。氨的合成使哈伯获得了 1918 年的诺贝尔化学奖,并促成了奥波和莱纳氨厂的成立,这是第一家不需要大规模电力供应即可运行的硝酸盐产品工业生产商。到 1934 年,几乎 64% 的固定氮是通过合成生产的,领先的生产国是德国,而智利在世界产量中的份额下降到略高于 7%。
When all the elements were put together, the Haber-Bosch system produced large quantities of inexpensive ammonia. The synthesis of ammonia earned Haber the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 and led to the creation of the Oppau and Leuna Ammonia Works, the first industrial producer of nitrate products that did not require large-scale electrical supplies to operate. By 1934 almost 64 per cent of fixed nitrogen was produced synthetically, and the leading producer was Germany, while Chile’s share of world production fell to just over 7 per cent.
尽管最初的重点是建立安全的国内人造肥料来源并满足工业对氨的需求,但随着战争的爆发,当英国及其盟国切断了天然来源时,氨厂提供了硝酸纤维素等炸药所需的硝酸盐。如果没有氨的合成,德国不可能继续打几个月的仗。
Although the initial concern had been to create a secure domestic source of artificial fertilizer and to supply industrial demand for ammonia, with the outbreak of war, when natural sources were cut off by Britain and her allies, the Ammonia Works provided the nitrates necessary for explosives such as cellulose nitrate. Without the synthesis of ammonia, Germany could not have continued to fight the war for more than a few months.
德国参加第一次世界大战时,期望能够迅速击败法国及其盟国,重演普法战争。但这并没有发生。法国的抵抗比预期的要强烈,英国围困了德国海军并封锁了其港口,与俄罗斯的战争分裂了德国军队。当双方都试图包抄对方时,战线越来越长,直到西线从阿尔卑斯山延伸到英吉利海峡,东线从黑海延伸到波罗的海。德国建立了一支训练有素、知识渊博的军队,并得到了欧洲第二大工业经济体的支持,但它无法承受消耗战,尤其是当英国和法国继续从其殖民地和美国进口物资时。
Germany entered World War I with expectations that it would defeat France and her allies quickly in a repeat of the Franco-Prussian War. This did not happen. French resistance was greater than expected, the British bottled up the German navy and blockaded her ports, and the war with Russia divided German forces. When both sides tried to outflank the other, the front lines stretched longer and longer until the western front ran from the Alps to the English Channel and the eastern front stretched from the Black Sea to the Baltic Ocean. Germany had created a well-trained and literate military backed by the second most powerful industrial economy in Europe, but it could not withstand a war of attrition, especially when the British and French continued to import supplies from their colonies and the United States.
弗里茨·哈伯说服德国最高统帅部尝试化学攻击。哈伯安排将 168 吨氯气装在气瓶中运往前线,然后等待风向正确方向吹来。1915 年 4 月 22 日,德国军队在比利时伊普尔附近的朗格马克 6.5 公里长的前线地段释放了毒气。黄绿色的毒气云飘过无人区,冲向盟军阵地。前线崩溃,德军跟随毒气云穿过防线的缺口。由于前线后方的抵抗和德国后备力量不足,无法进一步发动攻击,他们的前进受阻。毒气散去时,5,000 名士兵在袭击中死亡,15,000 人受伤。在毒气战证明了其有效性后,哈伯被任命为毒气战主管。
Fritz Haber persuaded the German High Command to try a chemical attack. Haber arranged to transport 168 tons of chlorine gas in cylinders to the front and then waited for the wind to blow in the right direction. On April 22, 1915, the German army released the gas along a 6.5 kilometer section of the front line at Langemarck, near Ypres in Belgium. The yellowish-green cloud drifted across no man’s land and onto the Allied position. The front line collapsed, and German forces followed the cloud through the hole in the line. Resistance behind the front lines and a lack of German reserves to carry the attack farther halted their advance. By the time the gas cleared, 5,000 soldiers were dead and 15,000 had been wounded in the attack. Haber was made the director of gas warfare after this demonstration of its effectiveness.
9.5第一次世界大战西线
9.5 THE WESTERN FRONT, WORLD WAR I
氯气是武器的不错选择。由于氯气在化学和纺织工业中的应用,氯气的供应量很大,而且氯气比空气稍重,因此会沉降在凹陷和战壕中。氯气与眼睛、鼻子和肺部的水分结合形成盐酸,从而造成伤害。虽然这并不是第一次在战场上使用化学武器(在战争早期,法国人曾使用催泪瓦斯,德国人曾使用装满化学武器的炮弹对付俄罗斯人,但效果不佳),但伊普尔是第一次成功的毒气袭击,它改变了战争的进行方式。它也有助于改变科学的进程。
Chlorine was a good choice for a weapon. It was available in large quantities because of its use in chemical and textile industries, and it was slightly heavier than air so it settled in hollows and trenches. It did its damage by combining with moisture in the eyes, nose, and lungs to form hydrochloric acid. Although it was not the first use of chemicals on the battlefield (earlier in the war, the French had used tear gas, and the Germans had ineffectively used chemical-filled artillery shells against the Russians), Ypres was the first successful gas attack, and it changed the conduct of the war. It also helped change the course of science.
冲突各方齐心协力,共同研发用于战场的新化学品和防御装备,以抵御敌人的攻击。这场战争原本是一场重型火炮、机关枪和堑壕战的较量,现在变成了一场科学实力的较量。英国、法国、加拿大、美国和意大利成立了国家研究委员会。这些组织旨在协调研究工作与工业生产和军事需求。简而言之,盟军试图效仿德国已经率先开展的研究一体化。数百名化学家、化学工程师、生物学家、医生、工程师、生理学家等被迫投入使用。应急计划设立了实验室,科学家们在施工队完工前就开始了工作。1915 年 9 月 25 日,盟军在洛斯发动了自己的毒气袭击。这次袭击并不成功。虽然德国前线的部分地区撤退了,但一些毒气却吹回了英国和法国的防线。几天后,占领的领土被重新夺回。
All sides in the conflict flung themselves into a concerted effort to create new chemicals to use on the battlefield and defensive equipment to ward off enemy attack. What had been a contest of heavy artillery, machine guns, and trench warfare now became a battle of scientific prowess. Britain, France, Canada, the United States, and Italy created national research councils. These organizations were intended to coordinate research efforts with industrial production and military needs. In short, the Allies attempted to emulate the integration of research that Germany had already pioneered. Hundreds of chemists, chemical engineers, biologists, physicians, engineers, physiologists, and others were pressed into service. Crash programs set up laboratories, and scientists began their work even before construction crews were finished. The Allies launched their own gas attack on September 25, 1915, at Loos. It was not a great success. While part of the German front line retreated, some of the gas blew back on the British and French line. The territory gained was retaken in a few days.
氯气相对容易识别和防御,因此哈伯和他的化学家同事必须引入更有效的化学物质才能保持优势。他们转向了光气,光气是透明、无色、无味的。它的作用比氯气慢,但更微妙,在接触后数小时甚至数天就会造成伤害或死亡,它为毒气战增添了新的恐怖程度。随后是其他化学物质,包括氯化苦、芥子气和二苯氯胂。到 1916 年春天,双方都使用化学品作为标准武器。对于未经训练或装备不足的敌人,毒气是致命的。德国人在对付俄罗斯人和意大利人时使用了它,效果很好。然而,面对训练有素、准备充分的部队,它并没有改变战壕中的僵局,尽管它确实对士兵和平民产生了深远的心理影响。化学武器的出现和远程飞机的发展使远离前线的城市和脆弱的平民成为潜在目标。它也让政府和公众认识到科学和科学家的力量和重要性。
Chlorine was relatively easy to recognize and defend against, so Haber and his fellow chemists had to introduce more potent chemicals if they were to keep their advantage. They turned to phosgene, which was clear, colorless, and odorless. It acted more slowly than chlorine but was more subtle, injuring or killing hours or even days after exposure, and it added a new level of terror to gas warfare. It was followed by other chemicals including chloropicrin, mustard gas, and diphenylchlorarsine. By the spring of 1916 both sides were using chemicals as standard weapons. Against an untrained or unequipped enemy, gas was deadly. It was used to great effect by the Germans against the Russians and the Italians. Against a trained and prepared force, however, it did not change the stalemate in the trenches, although it did have a profound psychological effect on both soldiers and the civilian population. The advent of chemical weapons and the development of long-range aircraft made potential targets of cities and vulnerable civilian populations far from the front. It also brought home to the governments and general public the power and importance of science and scientists.
除了化学战争以外,科学家还被迫参与战争的几乎每个方面的研究,包括新型爆炸物、空战、声纳、无线电通信、气象学和医疗,甚至包括最近发现的X射线的使用。
In addition to chemical warfare, scientists were pressed into service working on almost every aspect of war from new forms of explosives, aerial combat, sonar, radio communication, meteorology, and medical treatment, including the use of the recently discovered X-ray.
1918 年 11 月 11 日,第一次世界大战结束,《停战协定》的签署标志着欧洲和世界历史的转折点。战争和随后的流感大流行摧毁了一代人。一代年轻人在徒劳无功的斗争中惨遭杀害。800 多万人丧生,2000 多万人受伤。雪上加霜的是,1918 年至 1920 年肆虐全球的流感大流行导致 5000 万至 1 亿人死亡,欧洲国家因流感死亡约占总人口的 3%。欧洲经济一片废墟,俄罗斯仍处于 1917 年开始的革命阵痛之中。旧的政治制度和生活方式已经永远改变了。法国因在之前的普法战争中失败而蒙羞,并因战争而摇摇欲坠。破坏了四年战争的法国试图惩罚德国人,而这场战争主要发生在其领土上。1919 年《凡尔赛条约》的条款迫使德国人放弃殖民地并支付巨额赔款,实施贸易限制,并解散部分政府和军队。德国社会陷入混乱,经济萧条和恶性通货膨胀加剧了这种混乱。1923 年,当德国无力支付赔款时,法国入侵了鲁尔区,武装占领了煤田和工业设施。
The signing of the Armistice on November 11, 1918, which ended World War I, marked a turning point in European and world history. A generation had been devastated by the war and by the influenza pandemic that followed. A generation of young men had been slaughtered in a largely futile struggle. More than 8 million people were killed and over 20 million wounded. To add to the calamity, somewhere between 50 and 100 million people died in the worldwide influenza pandemic that raged from 1918 to 1920, with the European nations losing around 3 per cent of their populations to the disease. European economies lay in ruins, and Russia was still in the throes of the revolution that had started in 1917. The old political systems, the old ways of living, had changed forever. France, humiliated by its defeat in the earlier Franco-Prussian War and reeling from the destruction of a four-year conflict fought largely on its soil, sought to punish the Germans. The terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles forced the Germans to give up colonial holdings and make huge reparation payments, imposed trade restrictions, and dismantled parts of its government and military. German society was thrown into turmoil, exacerbated by economic depression and hyperinflation. In 1923, when Germany was unable to make reparation payments, the French invaded the Ruhr district, taking over coalfields and industrial facilities in an armed occupation.
战争将科学的实用性推到了风口浪尖,同时也暴露了其黑暗和危险的一面。一代又一代的哲学家和科学家都认为科学将造福社会,帮助国家繁荣;现在,“化学家的战争”生动地说明了科学的力量和实用性。即使胜利者试图恢复战前的生活,工业化世界也无法忽视允许一个国家挑战并几乎击败更大、供应更充足的国家联盟的制度。在第一次世界大战后的几年里,科学家们努力确立自己的国家地位,重建国际联系网络。几乎无视到处出现的政治分歧,科学家们在国际期刊上发表文章,与欧洲和美国各地的实验室既竞争又合作。大实验室和大项目的经验对战争工作非常重要,这促使科学家们寻找可能适合这种模式的项目。随着物理学成为 20 世纪 20 年代和 30 年代最杰出的科学学科,其他领域的科学家开始使用物理学的方法、理论和模型,在分子水平上研究进化和遗传,研究细胞结构和 DNA。与此同时,物理学家们也在进一步深入亚原子领域,最终在原子时代取得了爆炸性的成果。战前,尤其是在英国和美国,科学作为一种职业的地位低于其他学术追求,除了卡文迪什实验室或康奈尔大学等少数研究中心外,大多数寻求高级培训的学生都前往德国。当战争关闭了这条学习途径时,国内项目必须填补这一空白。而且,随着随着战争的进展,政府和教育工作者意识到科学教育是一项宝贵的国家资源。这一变化帮助美国崛起为科学强国。
The war had brought the utility of science to the forefront, as well as demonstrating its dark and dangerous side. Generations of philosophers and scientists had argued that science would benefit society and help nations prosper; now, its power and utility had been graphically illustrated by the “Chemists’ War.” Even as the victors tried to settle back into a pre-war life, the industrialized world could not ignore the system that had allowed one nation to challenge and almost defeat a coalition of larger and better supplied states. In the years following World War I, scientists worked to establish their national status and rebuild their network of international contacts. Almost in defiance of the political divisions appearing everywhere, scientists published in internationally read journals and worked both in competition and cooperation with laboratories all over Europe and the United States. The experience of big labs and big projects, which had been so important to war work, led scientists to look for projects that might fit that model. As physics emerged as the pre-eminent scientific discipline of the 1920s and 1930s, scientists in other areas turned to using methods, theories, and models from physics as they investigated evolution and inheritance at a molecular level, looking at cellular structure and DNA. At the same time, physicists themselves were delving ever further into the subatomic realm, with ultimately explosive results for the atomic age. Before the war, in Britain and the United States in particular, science as a profession had had a lower status than other academic pursuits, and with the exception of a few research centers such as the Cavendish Laboratory or Cornell University, most students seeking advanced training had traveled to Germany. When the war closed off this avenue of study, domestic programs had to fill the gap. And, as the war progressed, it became apparent to governments and educators that science education was a valuable national resource. The change helped the Unites States rise to scientific power.
在德国,国家利益与科学技术可以帮助德国的情况的意识相结合,使得研究成为战后普遍惨淡的环境中的一个例外。也许是因为实验室和设备的资金短缺,大学和研究中心的一大批有影响力的人才蓬勃发展,从事先进的理论工作。马克斯·普朗克、维尔纳·海森堡、埃尔温·薛定谔、阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦、利奥·西拉德、奥托·哈恩和莉泽·迈特纳只是战后在德国从事开创性工作的少数人。国际联系很快得以重建。战争期间,冲突双方的科学家都感到有责任为自己的国家工作,但他们也感到对科学界有责任。许多人走得更远,认为科学及其所体现的理性将给世界带来和平,这与 17 世纪皇家学会寻求“第三条道路”的想法如出一辙。
In Germany, national interest, combined with the sense that science and technology could help the German situation, made research an exception to the generally dismal circumstances of the postwar years. Perhaps because money was in short supply for laboratories and equipment, a host of powerful minds in the universities and research centers flourished, doing advanced theoretical work. Max Planck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, Albert Einstein, Leo Szilard, Otto Hahn, and Lise Meitner were only a few of the people who did pioneering work in Germany after the war. International contacts were quickly re-established. Scientists on both sides of the conflict had felt a duty to work for their countries during the war, but they also felt a duty to the community of science. Many went further, arguing that science and the rationality it embodied would bring peace to the world, in an echo of the Royal Society’s search for a “third way” in the seventeenth century.
科学为维多利亚时代的奇迹做出了贡献,带来了新设备,为许多人带来了比以往任何时代都更舒适的生活,但现在科学却显示出黑暗和危险的一面。牛顿世界观的确定性在欧洲社会被可怕的战争撕裂的同时崩溃,这并非巧合。卢瑟福、居里夫妇、马克斯·普朗克和爱因斯坦的深奥研究得以实现的基础设施也使化学战、高爆炸弹和空袭成为现代战争的标志。
Science, which had contributed to the marvels of the Victorian era, bringing new devices and, for many, greater comfort than any previous age, now showed a dark and dangerous side. It was not a coincidence that the certainty of the Newtonian worldview crumbled at the same juncture as European society was rent by a terrible war. The infrastructure that made the esoteric research of Rutherford, the Curies, Max Planck, and Einstein possible also made chemical warfare, high explosives, and aerial bombardment the face of modern warfare.
尽管第一次世界大战后各国政府削减了对科学的资助,但战争科学研究的成功使得科学家绅士风度的维多利亚时代已无法重现。在两次世界大战之间的几年里,科学家们自己也努力推动大规模研究项目,并随时准备在战争再次爆发时响应号召。科学引起了公众的关注。科学的社会地位得到了提高,科学教育的增加,尤其是高级教育。各国政府开始关注科学研究的力量,并经常试图在未来几年将其用于商业、工业或军事目的。
Although governments cut funding to science after World War I, the success of scientific research for the war effort made it impossible to return to the polite Victorian era of the gentleman scientist. In the years between the two world wars scientists themselves worked diligently to promote large-scale research programs and were ready to heed the call to arms when it came again. Science had been brought to public attention. The social status of science improved, as indicated by the increase in science education, particularly at the advanced level. Governments began to pay attention to the power of scientific research, often seeking to bend it to commercial, industrial, or military ends in the years to come.
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1.阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦,《伦敦观察家报》,1964 年 4 月 15 日;亦载于罗纳德·W·克拉克所著《爱因斯坦:生平与时代》(纽约:世界出版公司,1971 年),第 19 页。
1. Albert Einstein, London Observer, 15 April 1964; also in Ronald W. Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times (New York: World Publishing Co., 1971), 19.
第一次世界大战后,长期存在的社会、政治和经济标准受到挑战和颠覆。在政治上,君主制的权力衰落,现代自由主义、工业资本主义、民主社会主义和共产主义等新意识形态获得了拥护者。许多民主国家开始扩大妇女的投票权:加拿大于 1917 年,英国和德国于 1918 年,荷兰于 1919 年,美国于 1920 年,尽管法国和意大利妇女分别要等到 1944 年和 1946 年才获得投票权。俄国革命改变了世界外交版图。
In the wake of World War I, long-standing social, political, and economic standards were challenged and overturned. In politics, the power of monarchies declined and new ideologies such as modern liberalism, industrial capitalism, democratic socialism, and communism gained adherents. Many democratic countries started extending voting rights to women: Canada in 1917, Britain and Germany in 1918, the Netherlands in 1919, and the United States in 1920, although French and Italian women would have to wait until 1944 and 1946, respectively, for the right to vote. The Russian Revolution changed the diplomatic map of the world.
在艺术领域,印象派运动由画家克劳德·莫奈和埃德加·德加等人领导,在 19 世纪 70 年代和 80 年代震惊了文化界,但后来被更为激进的表现主义艺术(如瓦西里·康定斯基和弗朗茨·马尔克)和达达主义(如马塞尔·杜尚和汉娜·霍克)的“反艺术”艺术所取代。在建筑领域,现代主义运动使用尖端技术并拒绝装饰来创造适合工业时代的建筑。查尔斯-爱德华·让讷雷(Charles-Édouard Jeanneret,更为人熟知的名字是勒·柯布西耶)曾说过:“房子是居住的机器。” 1除了视觉艺术之外,舞蹈、戏剧、电影和文学在 20 世纪上半叶都经历了一段实验时期。如果这些不同的艺术有任何共同点,那就是两个:对旧形式的攻击和对事物表面之下的探索。
In the arts the Impressionist movement, led by people such as painters Claude Monet and Edgar Degas, that had so shocked the cultural establishment in the 1870s and 1880s gave way to the even more radical art of Expressionists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc and the “anti-art” art of the Dadaists such as Marcel Duchamp and Hannah Höch. In architecture the modernist movement was using cutting-edge technology and a rejection of ornamentation to create buildings for an industrial age. Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier, said, “A house is a machine for living in.”1 As well as the visual arts, dance, theater, film, and literature were all marked by a period of experimentation in the first part of the twentieth century. If these disparate arts had any common ground, it was two things: an attack on the old forms and a desire to look beneath the surface of things.
战后几年对某些人来说是一段颓废的时期,因为他们试图忘记战争和掠夺的恐怖,尤其是在 1929 年国际金融崩溃和大萧条开始之后。就在政府和金融的稳定受到快速技术变革、战争和萧条的动摇时,许多艺术家却拒绝旧观念,这似乎不仅仅是巧合。有时很难在科学界看到外面的世界,爱因斯坦的广义相对论于 1915 年战争期间出现,冥王星于 1930 年大萧条最严重的时候被发现,但科学界的动荡同样对旧世界观构成了挑战。有两个领域尤其迫使人们重新思考自然的运作方式。第一是核物理学的不断发展,特别是不确定性问题,第二是遗传学的发现以及进化和生物化学的综合。核物理学将为核能和核武器打开大门,而进化论和遗传学将挑战社会和宗教观念。
The postwar years were a period of decadence for some people, as they tried to forget the horrors of the war, and of depredation, especially after the collapse of international finance in 1929 and the start of the Great Depression. It seems more than a coincidence that just when the stability of government and finance was shaken by rapid technological change, war, and depression, so many artists were rejecting old ideas. It is sometimes hard to see the outside world in the world of science, where Einstein’s theory of general relativity appeared in 1915 during the course of the war and Pluto was discovered in 1930 during the depths of the Great Depression, but turmoil in science was just as much a challenge to the old worldview. Two areas in particular would force a reconsideration of how nature worked. The first was the continued development of nuclear physics, in particular the problem of indeterminacy, and the second was the discovery of genetics and the synthesis of evolution and biochemistry. Nuclear physics would open the door to nuclear power and nuclear weapons, while evolution and genetics would challenge social and religious ideas.
尽管第一次世界大战被称为“化学家之战”,但化学正让位于物理学,成为首要的研究领域。在十九世纪初,化学和物理学并不是独立的学科,但到了二十世纪初,两者的区别已日益制度化,领域也更加明确。化学越来越多地关注原子和分子水平,而物理学则着眼于观察的两端——一端是亚原子领域,另一端是宇宙结构。这些研究破坏了后来所谓的“经典”物理学,这种物理学的特点与其说是其研究主题,甚至不如说是其实验方法,而在于它假设了自然的绝对条件及其定律的确定性。在相对论和量子理论出现之前,自然定律被认为是简单、普遍和不变的。事件发生的位置或观察者的位置没有区别。新物理学消除了旧物理学令人安心的确定性,代之以一个更精确但偶然的系统。观察者的状况对于人们通过观察物理世界而得到的答案至关重要。
Although World War I was dubbed the “Chemists’ War,” chemistry was giving way to physics as the premier area of study. Chemistry and physics were not separate subjects at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but by the start of the twentieth century the distinction had become increasingly institutionalized and the territory more clearly defined. Chemistry focused more and more on the atomic and molecular level, while physics looked at the extreme ends of observation – the subatomic realm at one end and the structure of the universe at the other. These investigations undermined what came to be called “classical” physics, which was characterized less by its subject matter or even its experimental methodology than by its assumption of the absolute condition of nature and the resulting certainty of its laws. Prior to relativity and quantum theory, the laws of nature were considered to be simple, universal, and invariant. The location of the event or the position of the observer made no difference. The new physics removed the comfortable certainty of the old and replaced it with a more precise but contingent system. The condition of the observer became crucial to the answers one got from observation of the physical world.
从最基本的层面上看,不确定性很容易理解。例如,创建一个星表是一项看似重要但却平凡的任务。星表通过一组坐标来识别恒星,天文学家可以通过这些坐标来观察天空中的同一物体。这种星表至少从托勒密时代就已经存在了。但有一个问题。每台望远镜都是不同的,即使使用同一台望远镜,天文学家也知道温度和大气条件(例如空气密度和水蒸气量)等因素会使每次观测略有不同。因此,天文学家对一颗恒星进行多次观测,并将结果结合起来,以统计方式创建其坐标。虽然任何使用星表的天文学家肯定都能找到所需的物体,但这颗恒星真的在这些坐标上吗?答案是我们不知道,问题是我们无法知道。没有一种物理仪器是完美的,也没有一种仪器可以从宇宙之外观察宇宙,因此必须以某种方式与被观察的物体相互作用。对于天文学家——基本上对于原子级以上的任何事物——这种不确定性几乎没有实际影响。在亚原子层面,它造成了一个严重的科学问题。
At its most basic level, indeterminacy is easy to understand. Take, for example, what seems like the important but mundane task of creating a star catalog. The catalog identifies stars by a set of coordinates that allows astronomers to look at the same object in the sky. Such catalogs have existed since at least the time of Ptolemy. But there is a problem. Every telescope is different, and even with the same telescope astronomers know that things such as temperature and atmospheric conditions (for example, air density and amount of water vapor) make each observation slightly different. So astronomers make multiple observations of a star and combine the results to statistically create its coordinates. Although any astronomer using the catalog will certainly be able to find the desired object, is the star actually at those coordinates? The answer is that we don’t know, and the problem is that we can’t know. No physical instrument can be perfect, and no instrument can observe the universe from outside the universe and thus must interact in some way with the thing being observed. For astronomers – and essentially for anything above the atomic level – this indeterminacy has little practical effect. At the subatomic level, it created a serious scientific problem.
就像燃素理论的消亡一样,并非是老牌物理学家转向新观点,而是新一代科学家开发并接受了量子物理学的新思想。量子物理学中引入波力学后,这一鸿沟进一步扩大。玻尔的原子量子图景似乎适用于单个原子,但在更复杂的排列中却行不通,例如最简单的双原子分子形式(例如大气中的氧气O 2)。法国的路易·德布罗意(1892-1987 年)、德国的埃尔温·薛定谔(1887-1961 年)和维尔纳·海森堡(1901-76 年)以及英国的保罗·A·M·狄拉克(1902-84 年)都解决了这个问题。德布罗意认为波和粒子是单一实体的两个方面。因此,从一个角度看,电子和光子可能具有粒子属性,而从另一个角度看,它们可能具有波动属性。尽管波粒二象性与关于光的粒子和波的约 300 年争论相悖,但它却很巧妙,特别是因为任何运动的东西都可以在数学上描述为波。
As in the case of the death of the phlogiston theory, rather than established physicists converting to the new view it took a new generation of scientists to develop and embrace the new ideas of quantum physics. This gulf was widened by the introduction of wave mechanics within quantum physics. Bohr’s quantum picture of the atom, which seemed to work well for individual atoms, broke down in more complex arrangements, such as the simplest form of a diatomic molecule (for example, atmospheric oxygen O2). Louis de Broglie (1892–1987) in France, Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) and Werner Heisenberg (1901–76) in Germany, and Paul A.M. Dirac (1902–84) in Britain all tackled the problem. De Broglie argued that waves and particles were two aspects of a single entity. Thus, electrons and photons could have particle properties if looked at one way and wave properties if looked at another. While the wave-particle duality flew in the face of about 300 years of argument about particles and waves of light, it worked neatly, particularly since anything that moves can be mathematically described as a wave.
1926 年,薛定谔提出,电子可以描述为驻波,其振动模式类似于小提琴弦的振动。虽然这可以更好地用数学方法描述电子的行为,但并未得到普遍接受,因为海森堡和狄拉克都提出了替代模型,这些模型在某种意义上“更纯粹”,因为它们是严格数学的。波模型的共同点在于,必须将电子和其他粒子视为一系列概率,而不是完全可知的对象。这产生了深远的哲学后果,其中最重要的就是爱因斯坦和薛定谔拒绝了量子理论的某些方面,他们都认为宇宙中一定存在某种终极现实,而不仅仅是一系列可能的现实。他们都担心,观察的局限性会限制我们对宇宙结构和功能的绝对了解。
In 1926 Schrödinger argued that electrons could be described as standing waves with modes of vibration analogous to the vibrations of violin strings. While this allowed a better mathematical description of the behavior of the electron, it was not universally accepted, as both Heisenberg and Dirac offered alternative models that were in a sense “purer” since they were strictly mathematical. What linked the wave models was the necessity of dealing with electrons and other particles as a series of probabilities rather than as completely knowable objects. This had profound philosophical consequences, not the least of which was the rejection of aspects of quantum theory by Einstein and Schrödinger, who each felt that there must be some ultimate reality in the universe, not simply a range of possible realities. They were both concerned that limits to observation constrained what could be absolutely known about the very structure and function of the universe.
海森堡于 1927 年正式提出了这个问题,他推断,当电子绕原子核旋转时,不可能同时知道它的确切位置和动量。任何可用于确定电子位置的方法都必须与电子相互作用,而这会改变其动量。同样,任何可以记录动量的事物都会干扰电子的运动并改变其位置。这就是不确定性原理,海森堡将其表示为一个数学公式:Δ p × Δ x~h,其中p是动量的不确定性,x是位置的不确定性,h是普朗克常数。普朗克常数是量子能量或最小能量“包”的测量值。另一种思考方式是说,如果完全知道电子的Δ p ,那么 Δ x也将完全不可知,但整个系统的值将等于系统的最小能量包。
Heisenberg formalized this problem in 1927 when he reasoned that it would not be possible simultaneously to know the exact position and the momentum of an electron as it orbited the nucleus of an atom. Any method that could be used to determine the position of the electron would have to interact with the electron, and that would alter its momentum. Similarly, anything that could record the momentum would interfere with the motion of the electron and change its position. This was the principle of indeterminacy, and Heisenberg expressed it as a mathematical formula: Δp × Δx~h, where p was the uncertainty of the momentum, x was the uncertainty of the position, and h was Planck’s constant. Planck’s constant was a measurement of quantum energy, or the smallest “packet” of energy. Another way to think of this was to say that if Δp for an electron was completely known, then Δx would be completely unknowable, but the whole system would have a value equal to the smallest energy packet for the system.
不确定性原理也被称为“不确定性原理”,尽管这不是一个准确的称呼。虽然可能无法确定单个电子的位置和动量,但电子的行为是一致的。换句话说,电子的行为在随机意义上并不不确定,但我们无法确定它的某些方面,因为我们是同一物理宇宙的一部分。此外,由于我们可以完全确定电子作为一类物体的行为,就像我们可以确定物理世界中可以检查的任何事物一样,不确定性原理并不会使物理学(或更广泛意义上的科学)变得不可能或不可靠。事实上,恰恰相反。物理学的概率方法比经典物理学更精确,因为它描述了一个可以处于多种状态的系统。换句话说,它比牛顿或经典物理学假设的理想世界更好地模拟了现实世界。
The principle of indeterminacy has also been called the “uncertainty principle,” although this is not an accurate label. While it might not be possible to determine the position and momentum of a single electron, the behavior of the electron is consistent. In other words, the electron’s behavior is not uncertain in the sense of being random, but we cannot determine certain things about it because we are part of the same physical universe. Further, since we can be as completely certain about the behavior of electrons as a class of objects as it is possible to be certain about anything that can be examined in the physical world, the indeterminacy principle does not make physics (or science in a wider sense) impossible or unreliable. In fact, just the opposite. The probabilistic approach to physics is more precise than classical physics since it describes a system that can be in more than one state. In other words, it models the real world better than the ideal world assumed by Newtonian or classical physics.
不确定性之所以令人不安,是因为它似乎将物理学引向了一种奇怪的形而上学。不确定性可以这样理解:所有可能的条件同时存在。1935 年,薛定谔在一篇描述量子力学概念问题的文章中试图说明将不确定性推向逻辑结论的难度。在这篇文章中,他提出了一个后来被称为“薛定谔的猫”的思想实验:
Indeterminacy was disturbing because it seemed to open physics to a kind of strange metaphysics. Indeterminacy can be read in such a way that all possible conditions exist simultaneously. In 1935 Schrödinger tried to illustrate the difficulty of taking indeterminacy to its logical conclusion in an essay describing conceptual problems in quantum mechanics. In this article he offered a thought experiment that has become known as “Schrödinger’s cat”:
甚至可以设置相当荒谬的案例。一只猫被关在一个钢制的房间里,旁边还有以下恶魔般的装置(必须确保装置不受猫的直接干扰):盖革计数器中有少量放射性物质,这种物质非常小,可能在一小时内其中一个原子会衰变,但同样可能没有原子衰变;如果衰变发生,计数器管就会放电,并通过继电器释放锤子,锤子会打碎一小瓶氢氰酸。如果将整个系统放置一小时,如果在此期间没有原子衰变,人们会说猫还活着。第一次原子衰变会毒死它。整个系统的 Psi 函数会通过在其中将活猫和死猫(请原谅这种表达)等量混合或涂抹来表达这一点。2
One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following diabolical device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small that perhaps in the course of one hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer which shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The first atomic decay would have poisoned it. The Psi function for the entire system would express this by having in it the living and the dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts.2
换句话说,由于我们只有亲眼看见才能知道猫的状态,因此猫同时既活着又死去,因为两种情况发生的概率都是 50/50。只有打开这个恶魔般的装置,宇宙才会变成其中一种状态。
In other words, because we cannot know the state of the cat until we look, the cat is equally alive and dead at the same time since there is a 50/50 chance of either condition. Only by opening the diabolical device will the universe resolve into one state or the other.
观察行为会改变被观察事物这一简单的想法得到了普遍接受,因为任何观察工具都不可能不具有质量等物理属性,也不可能在操作过程中使用波或粒子,从而与被观察事物相互作用。从哲学上讲,观察者参与观察事物的概念,即完全客观性的终结,具有深远的影响,有助于产生改变二十世纪社会科学的文化相对主义。文学、人类学和历史都开始将读者、人类学家和档案保管员视为系统的一部分,而不是外部和公正的观察者。人类学家弗朗兹·博厄斯 (1858-1942) 在转向人类文化研究之前获得了物理学博士学位,他拒绝接受文明等级制的观点,并强烈反对高尔顿等人的科学种族主义。博厄斯认为,没有高低贵贱的种族或文化,所有人都通过自己的文化视角看待世界。文化没有“客观”衡量标准,只有偶然的观察。在一个社会中被认为是道德的行为在另一个社会中可能被认为是不道德的,而必须放在文化背景中去理解。这被称为“文化相对主义”。
The simple idea that the act of observation changes the thing observed found general acceptance since there could be no tool of observation that did not have physical properties such as mass or use waves or particles in its operation and thus interacted with the thing observed. Philosophically, the concept of the participation of the observer in the thing observed, the end of complete objectivity, had far-reaching implications, helping to produce the cultural relativism that transformed the social sciences in the twentieth century. Literature, anthropology, and history all began to take into account the reader, the anthropologist, and the archivist as part of the system rather than outside and unbiased observers. The anthropologist Franz Boas (1858–1942), who earned a doctorate in physics before turning to the study of human culture, rejected the idea that there was a hierarchy of civilizations and strongly opposed the scientific racism of people like Galton. Boas argued that there were no higher or lower races or cultures and that all people see the world through the lens of their own culture. There was no “objective” measure of culture, only contingent observations. Activities that are considered moral in one society might be considered immoral in a different society, and had to be understood in context of the culture. This came to be known as “cultural relativism.”
尽管如此,科学家得出这样的结论:除非观察,否则事物不会具有特定的存在状态,这似乎很荒谬,即使不确定性使我们无法知道具体状态。这有一个以人类为中心的推论:宇宙的存在只是因为我们(或某个实体)观察它。虽然这种想法可以作为上帝存在的论据(上帝无时无刻不在观察整个宇宙,从而使宇宙存在),但从人类的角度看,除了最伟大的利己主义者之外,其他人都觉得这种想法太离谱了。深奥的量子物理学的哲学陷阱似乎如此之大,以至于薛定谔后来表示,他希望自己从未见过这只猫。
Still, for scientists to conclude that things do not have a specific state of existence unless they are observed seemed absurd, even if indeterminacy prevents us from knowing the specific state. This had an anthropocentric corollary: the universe exists only because we (or some entity) observe it. Although such an idea could be used as an argument for the existence of God (who observes all the universe at all times, thus keeping it in existence), such an idea at a human level seemed too outrageous for all but the greatest of egoists. The philosophical pitfalls of deep quantum physics seemed so great that Schrödinger later said he wished he had never met the cat.
另一种解释不确定性的方式是认为宇宙的数量是无限的,因为每个量子过渡态都应该存在。盒子里的猫可能在一个宇宙里活着,而在另一个宇宙里却死了。
Another way that indeterminacy was interpreted was to suggest that there were an infinite number of universes since each quantum transition state should exist. The cat in the box could then be alive in one universe and dead in another.
虽然科学家对不确定性和量子物理相关的各种哲学问题进行了推测,但他们非常清楚,量子效应在亚原子领域之上是不可察觉的。但这并没有阻止无良(或受骗)的人基于“量子物理”为从庸医到外星旅行等各种产品做出古怪的宣传。
While scientists have speculated about the various philosophical issues associated with indeterminacy and quantum physics, they are very clear that quantum effects are unnoticeable above the subatomic realm. This has not stopped unscrupulous (or deluded) people from making wacky claims for products ranging from quack medicine to extraterrestrial travel based on “quantum physics.”
第一次世界大战前几年,生物学家的工作揭示了基因和染色体的存在,并提出孟德尔早期的观察结果包含进化变化的可能机制。然而,其他研究表明遗传系统更为复杂。威廉·贝特森(1861-1926 年)于 1905 年证明某些特征是混合的,而不是分离的,而同年克拉伦斯·麦克朗(1870-1946 年)则表明雌性哺乳动物有两条X染色体,雄性有一条X 染色体和一条Y 染色体。这导致了托马斯·亨特·摩尔根于 1910 年提出的性连锁特征概念。借助物理实验室的新工具,生物学家可以操纵自然,并果断地从实地观察转向人口研究的概率领域。
The work of biologists in the years before World War I had revealed the existence of genes and chromosomes and had suggested that Mendel’s earlier observations contained a possible mechanism for evolutionary change. However, other research showed that the genetic system was more complex. William Bateson (1861–1926) in 1905 demonstrated that some characteristics were blended, rather than segregated, while in the same year Clarence McClung (1870–1946) showed that female mammals have two X chromosomes and males have an X and a Y. This led to the concept of sex-linked characteristics, introduced by Thomas Hunt Morgan in 1910. New tools, borrowed from physics labs, allowed biologists to manipulate nature and to move decisively away from field observation to the probabilistic universe of population studies.
基因和遗传的研究改变了进化论持续讨论的基础。孟德尔学派认为,种群不可能具有连续变化,进化只能通过突变发生,从而消除了自然选择机制的必要性。生物统计学家(更接近达尔文的人)声称,种群围绕平均值变化,平均值可以随时间而移动。为了论证新特征不会被淹没并且进化可以发生,生物学家需要从种群的角度来思考,这需要一种借用物理科学中的数学技术的统计方法。开发了两种这样的方法,第一种是通过种群研究,特别是对果蝇的研究,第二种是通过纯数学分析。其结果是重新阐述了进化理论,称为新综合。
The research on genes and inheritance changed the basis for the continuing discussion of evolutionary theory. Mendelians argued that populations could not have continuous variation and that evolution could happen only through mutation, taking away any need for natural selection as a mechanism. Biometricians (those who followed Darwin more closely) claimed that populations varied around a mean and that the mean could be moved over time. In order to argue that new characteristics would not be swamped and that evolution could happen, biologists needed to think in population terms, which required a statistical approach that borrowed mathematical techniques from the physical sciences. Two such approaches developed, the first through population studies, especially of fruit flies, and the second through a purely mathematical analysis. The result was a rearticulation of evolutionary theory, known as the new synthesis.
TH 摩根 (TH Morgan) 最能体现从群体角度理解进化的思想。他研究的是果蝇。这些小苍蝇是完美的实验对象,因为它们繁殖迅速,因此可以轻松追踪许多代。此外,它们几乎不需要维护,体型足够大,无需特殊设备即可进行检查。通过使用热量、化学物质和 X 射线诱发突变,摩根追踪了遗传特征的分布。起初,他对孟德尔的遗传定律持怀疑态度,但他的育种计划倾向于证实孟德尔的想法,尽管它在几个方面增加了该系统。一个变化是发现了与性别相关的特征;“白眼”突变几乎完全局限于雄性,从而表明染色体中的一些变化仅限于 X或Y染色体。摩尔根与阿尔弗雷德·H·斯图尔特文特 (Alfred H. Sturtevant,1891-1970) 的进一步合作,于 1911 年绘制出第一张染色体图,确定了五个性连锁基因的位置。到 1916 年,摩尔根利用他的发现论证了自然选择的遗传理论:有害突变自然地被阻止传播(因为携带这些有害突变的个体会灭绝),而有益突变则逐渐占据种群。
T.H. Morgan best exemplifies the population approach to understanding evolution. He worked with drosophila or fruit flies. These small flies were a perfect experimental subject since they bred quickly, so many generations could be easily traced. In addition, they required little maintenance and were large enough to examine without special equipment. By inducing mutations using heat, chemicals, and X-rays, Morgan traced the distribution of genetic traits. At first, he was skeptical about Mendel’s laws of inheritance, but his breeding program tended to confirm Mendel’s ideas, although it added to the system in several ways. One change was the discovery of sex-linked characteristics; the “white eye” mutant was almost completely confined to males, thus demonstrating that some changes in the chromosomes were restricted to either the X or Y chromosome. Further work with Alfred H. Sturtevant (1891–1970) led in 1911 to the first chromosome map, which located the position of five sex-linked genes. By 1916 Morgan was using his findings to argue a genetic theory of natural selection: harmful mutations were naturally prevented from spreading (since the individuals with these harmful mutations died out), while beneficial ones gradually took over the population.
摩尔根的学生赫尔曼·约瑟夫·穆勒(Hermann Joseph Muller,1890-1967)继续研究果蝇,以探究进化变化。穆勒曾与斯特蒂文特一起在哥伦比亚大学成立了一个生物俱乐部,他对基因变化的概念非常着迷。他仔细研究了果蝇的突变率,得出结论:尽管基因中存在一定程度的自发突变,但这些突变很少可行或传递,而且在许多情况下是致命的。为了证明突变的物理化学基础,他利用热量来增加突变率(热量增加了随机化学相互作用的机会);1926 年,他转向 X 射线,这大大提高了突变率。此外,他还证明了一些突变是可遗传的。
Morgan’s student, Hermann Joseph Muller (1890–1967), continued the research with drosophila to investigate evolutionary change. Muller, who with Sturtevant had helped found a biology club at Columbia University, was fascinated by the concept of genetic change. He carefully studied mutation rates of the fruit flies and concluded that, although there was a certain rate of spontaneous mutation in the genes, the mutations were rarely viable or passed on and, in many cases, were lethal. To demonstrate the physiochemical basis for mutation, he used heat to increase mutation rates (heat increased the chances of random chemical interaction); in 1926 he turned to X-rays, which greatly increased mutation rates. Further, he demonstrated that some of the mutations were inheritable.
这可能被誉为达尔文进化论和遗传基因模型之间的关键联系,但穆勒的工作却因对他的政治观点的批评而黯然失色。穆勒是一位热心的社会主义者,甚至帮助出版了一份共产主义报纸。由于担心大萧条时期美国的政治压制(联邦调查局一直在监视他),他于 1932 年离开欧洲。他受到列宁农业科学院院长兼全苏植物育种研究所所长尼古拉·伊万诺维奇·瓦维洛夫 (1887-1943) 的邀请,成为列宁格勒科学院遗传研究所的高级遗传学家,后来又在莫斯科任职。在那里,穆勒鼓励了由谢尔盖·切特维里科夫 (1880-1959) 和狄奥多西乌斯·多布赞斯基 (1900-75) 领导的俄罗斯果蝇研究学派。这些生物学家将自然主义工作与摩尔根的实验室遗传学相结合。他们研究了暴露在自然条件下而非人工条件下的果蝇种群,并提出了基因库作为潜在基因组合储存库的想法。他们还与哥伦比亚研究小组保持着密切联系;多布赞斯基于 1927 年前往美国,在摩根实验室工作了一段时间。
This might have been celebrated as a key link between Darwinian evolution and the genetic model of inheritance, but Muller’s work was overshadowed by criticism of his politics. Muller was an ardent socialist and even helped publish a communist newspaper. Because of his concern about political suppression in Depression-era United States (the FBI kept tabs on him), he left for Europe in 1932. He was invited by Nikolai Ivanovitch Vavilov (1887–1943), president of the Lenin Academy of the Agricultural Sciences and director of the All-Union Institute of Plant Breeding, to become the senior geneticist at the Institute of Genetics of the Academy of Sciences in Leningrad and later in Moscow. While there, Muller encouraged the Russian school of drosophila studies, led by Sergei Chetverikov (1880–1959) and Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900–75). These biologists combined naturalist work with Morgan’s lab genetics. They studied fruit fly populations exposed to natural conditions rather than artificially created ones and developed the idea of the gene pool as a reservoir of potential genetic combinations. They maintained strong links with the Columbia research group as well; Dobzhansky traveled to the United States in 1927 to join Morgan’s lab for a time.
穆勒在苏联待的时间很短。他只待了三年就离开了苏联。1937 年左右,瓦维洛夫失宠,遗传学作为一个研究领域受到攻击。瓦维洛夫最激烈的反对者之一是特罗芬·杰尼索维奇·莱先科 (1898-1976)。莱先科是一位农学家,他的名声建立在 1927 年冬季种植系统的基础上,该系统在棉花作物之前提供豌豆作物。他被描绘成一个农民科学家,一个务实的人,没有时间研究模糊的理论或深奥的实验。他的兴趣在于操纵种子的成熟过程,目的是使植物更大、产量更高、生长季节更短。他将自己的系统称为“春化”,其中包括浸泡和冷却种子以促进快速发芽(除其他外)。他声称他可以通过这种环境操纵来改变植物物种的行为,遵循新拉马克进化形式。莱先科宣传他的系统可以解决苏联的所有粮食问题。
Muller’s time in the Soviet Union was short. He left after only three years, when Vavilov fell from favor around 1937 and genetics as an area of study came under attack. One of Vavilov’s most vocal opponents was Trofin Denisovich Lysenko (1898–1976). Lysenko was an agronomist whose reputation was based on a system of winter planting to provide a pea crop before a cotton crop in 1927. He was pictured as a peasant scientist, a practical man who had no time for vague theories or esoteric experiments. His interest was in manipulating the maturation process of seeds, with the aim of bigger plants, higher yields, and shorter growing seasons. He called his system “vernalization,” and it involved (among other things) soaking and cooling seeds to promote rapid germination. He claimed he could transform the behavior of plant species through such environmental manipulation, following a neo-Lamarckian form of evolution. Lysenko promoted his system as the solution to all of the Soviet Union’s food problems.
人们经常指出,李森科主义是将政治权宜之计置于正确科学之上的经典案例,但这个故事比糟糕的政治制度所认可的糟糕科学要复杂得多。科学,尤其是达尔文主义,一直对共产主义者具有吸引力,他们认为,正是达尔文主义使社会主义的兴起在科学上不可避免。苏联仍然是一个农业社会,对生物学有着浓厚的兴趣,但革命后,其农业系统陷入了困境。战争、自然灾害、管理不善以及在某些情况下蓄意的压迫政策造成的破坏产生了饥荒。苏联领导层求助于其顶尖科学家,如瓦维洛夫,他们说遗传学会有所帮助,但需要时间和大量工作。李先科的系统可以立即使用,对于怀疑知识分子的领导层来说,更容易容忍。故事的转折是,春化对豌豆和玉米等有限数量的作物确实有效,但在大规模系统中,产量的变化微不足道。它对小麦等其他作物根本不起作用,事实上,在许多情况下,它使情况变得更糟,因为它损害了产量并耗尽了有限的资源。同样对长期苏联科学造成损害的是,对李先科的政治支持意味着拆除竞争对手的研究项目,尤其是遗传学,这些研究被视为颓废和西方。瓦维洛夫失去了职位,并于 1940 年被捕并被指控叛国罪和破坏罪。尽管西方科学界竭力挽救他(1942 年,他被选为皇家学会会员,以赋予他国际地位),但他很快便成了“无名之辈”,他的名字从苏联档案中被抹去。他被送往古拉格(西伯利亚劳改营),并于 1943 年在那里去世。
Lysenkoism has often been pointed to as a classic case of placing political expediency ahead of good science, but the story is more complex than simply bad science endorsed by a bad political system. Science, and Darwinism in particular, had always had an appeal to communists, who argued that it made the rise of socialism scientifically inevitable. The Soviet Union was still an agrarian society, with a strong interest in biology, but its agricultural system was in deep trouble following the Revolution. The destruction caused by wars, natural disaster, mismanagement, and in some cases deliberate policies of oppression produced famine. The Soviet leadership turned to its leading scientists, such as Vavilov, who said that genetics would help but that it would take time and a great deal of work. Lysenko’s system was available immediately and was far more tolerable to a leadership suspicious of intellectuals. The twist on the story was that vernalization did work for a limited number of crops such as peas and corn, but the change in yield was insignificant in a mass system. It did not work at all for other crops such as wheat and, in fact, made things worse in many cases by hurting yields and using up limited resources. Equally damaging to long-term Soviet science was that political support for Lysenko meant the dismantling of rival research programs, especially genetics, which were seen as decadent and Western. Vavilov lost his position and in 1940 was arrested and charged with treason and sabotage. Despite the efforts of the Western scientific community to save him (he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1942 in order to give him international status), he quickly became an “unperson,” his name erased from Soviet records. He was sent to the gulag (Siberian labor camps), where he died in 1943.
由于李先科的自我吹捧和政治领导人的积极支持,原本可能只是农学领域的一项小研究,却变成了一项国家政策。政治领导人利用他的工作来推进自己的议程。虽然高度集中的国家政治确保了李先科主义及其严重缺陷对苏联农业造成了巨大破坏,但得出这样的结论是出于政治动机对薄弱科学的支持仅限于极权主义国家,这是错误的逻辑,正如冷聚变和导弹防御研究后来所表明的那样。
What might have been a minor piece of research in agronomics was changed into a national policy by Lysenko’s self-promotion and the active support of political leaders who used his work to advance their own agendas. While the politics of a highly centralized state ensured that Lysenkoism with its grave faults caused great damage to Soviet agriculture, it is false logic to conclude that politically motivated support for weak science was confined to totalitarian states, as the cases of cold fusion and missile defense research would later show.
新的综合理论与三位学者的研究成果相得益彰:剑桥数学家 R.A. 费舍尔(1890-1962 年)、牛津生物化学家 J.B.S. 霍尔丹(1892-1964 年)和美国生物学家 Sewall Wright(1889-1988 年)。这些人将达尔文主义、孟德尔主义和生物统计学结合起来,以微积分的方式重新定义了连续和不连续变异,因此突变(不连续变异)问题成为更大的达尔文连续体的一部分。他们研究了基因的统计存活率,并表明在大群体中仍能保持变异性,因此可以选择有利的基因。通过从群体而不是个体的角度思考,新的综合理论将野外博物学家对地理和物种的关注与抽象的数学群体遗传学相结合。到 1940 年,科学家对微观和宏观层面的进化过程有了清晰的认识,为有关遗传漂变、间断平衡以及基因和遗传物质本身的结构的新争论打开了大门。
The new synthesis gelled with the work of three men: R.A. Fisher (1890–1962), a Cambridge mathematician; J.B.S. Haldane (1892–1964), an Oxford biochemist; and Sewall Wright (1889–1988), an American biologist. These men combined Darwinism, Mendelism, and the statistics of biometry to redefine continuous and discontinuous variation in calculus-like terms, so that the problem of saltation (discontinuous variation) became part of a larger Darwinian continuum. They examined the statistical survival rates of genes and showed that variability was maintained in large populations so that favorable genes could be selected. By thinking in terms of populations rather than individuals, the new synthesis allowed for an integration of the geographical and species concerns of field naturalists with abstract mathematical population genetics. By 1940 scientists had a clear picture of the process of evolution, on both a microscopic and a macroscopic level, opening the door to new debates concerning genetic drift, punctuated equilibrium, and the structure of the gene and genetic material itself.
人口遗传学研究为遗传的宏观生物学研究提供了大量信息。染色体研究缩小了遗传活动的范围,甚至绘制了控制中心或基因的物理位置。现在的问题是:基因如何发挥作用?这取决于对核成分的分子水平检查,而这是一项艰巨的任务。对细胞液的化学分析表明,每个细胞都含有不同的分子,包括蛋白质、酶、糖和磷酸盐等。分离这些分子是一项困难而复杂的任务,酶的发现使之成为可能。从某种意义上说,酶已被用于发酵和制作面包等活动中好几代了,但将这些有机催化剂归类为特定化学实体是由威廉·弗里德里希·库内 (Wilhelm Friedrich Kühne,1837-1900) 首次提出的,他分离了胰蛋白酶,这是一种存在于胰液中有助于消化的化学物质。他将这些化学物质称为酶,源自希腊语enzumos,意为发酵的。到 1900 年,人们已经发现了几十种酶,很明显它们是大多数细胞活动的化学引擎。但它们是如何形成的,以及它们在分子水平上是如何起作用的,这一点尚不清楚。
Studies in population genetics provided much information on the macrobiological investigation of heredity. Chromosome studies had narrowed the site of genetic activity and even mapped the physical location of the control centers or genes. The question now was: How did a gene function? This hinged on a molecular-level examination of nuclear components, and that was a difficult task. Chemical analysis of the fluid in cells showed that each cell contained a soup of different molecules including proteins, enzymes, sugars, and phosphates, among many others. Separating these was a difficult and complex task made possible by the discovery of enzymes. In a sense, enzymes had been used for generations in activities such as fermentation and making bread, but the classification of these organic catalysts as specific chemical entities was first made by Wilhelm Friedrich Kühne (1837–1900), who isolated trypsin, a chemical found in pancreatic juices that aid in digestion. He called these chemicals enzymes, from the Greek enzumos meaning leavened. By 1900 dozens of enzymes had been identified, and it was clear that they were the chemical engines of most cell activity. What was not clear was how they were formed and how they worked at a molecular level.
社会对进化论的反应与早期物理学和化学革命截然不同,后者往往过于数学化和深奥,不适合大众讨论。生物学,尤其是人类生物学,是每个人都认为自己能够理解的东西,科学研究的是人,而不是试管中的液体或遥远星球等无生命的物体。大多数宗教领袖反对这种他们认为唯物主义的理论,因此是无神论的。
The social reaction to evolution was much different than the earlier revolutions in physics and chemistry, which were often too mathematical and esoteric for popular discussion. Biology, especially human biology, was something that everyone thought they could understand, and the science was about people rather than some inanimate object like a liquid in a test tube or distant planet. Most religious leaders objected to a theory they saw as materialistic and therefore atheistic.
早期公众对进化论的反应集中在赫伯特·斯宾塞的“社会达尔文主义”上,而不是达尔文的实际科学。选择观念和基于种族的社会等级制度相结合,将欧洲人(白人)置于最高地位,而其他人则被视为低等生物,促成了优生学的思想。优生学认为,某些人和某些群体具有使他们优于或低于社会规范的品质,并且通过控制生殖,优良品质可以可以保留和增强,而坏品质则可以消除。这些人类繁殖问题出现在柏拉图的《理想国》和许多古代文化中,这些文化对畸形儿童的治疗有规定,在以农业为主的世界中,像饲养牲畜一样饲养人类似乎是直觉。进化论被一些人认为为这个想法提供了科学依据。优生学家和社会达尔文主义者一样,几乎所有人都将进化视为创造的阶梯,底部是“原始”形式,顶部是“高级”形式。十九世纪末优生学的动力是由殖民主义推动的,当时白人欧洲人统治着世界各地的许多非白人,对于英国人来说,特别是爱尔兰人的问题。爱尔兰人是一个殖民地,在达尔文时代,许多人移民到英国工作,以避免大饥荒(1845-9 年)造成的饥荒。尽管与大多数同时代人相比,达尔文的种族主义较为温和,但他相信种族,并关心人口控制。在《人类的由来》(1871 年)中,他认为,一个国家一开始苏格兰人和爱尔兰人的数量相等,经过十几代人之后,人口中会有五分之六是爱尔兰人,但五分之六的财产和财富将属于苏格兰人。
Early public reactions to evolutionary theory focused on the “social Darwinism” of Herbert Spencer rather than Darwin’s actual science. The combination of the idea of selection and a social hierarchy based on race that placed Europeans (white people) on top and everyone else seen as lesser creatures contributed to the idea of eugenics. Eugenics was the belief that certain people and certain groups of people had qualities that made them superior or inferior to the social norm and that by the control of reproduction the good qualities could be preserved and enhanced, while the bad qualities could be eliminated. These human breeding concerns show up in Plato’s Republic and a number of ancient cultures that had rules about the treatment of deformed children and in a world that was predominantly agrarian, breeding people like breeding livestock seemed intuitive. Evolutionary theory was taken by some as providing a scientific justification for the idea. The eugenicists, like the social Darwinists, almost all saw evolution as a ladder of creation with “primitive” forms at the bottom and “advanced” forms at the top. The impetus for eugenics at the end of the nineteenth century was driven by colonialism where white Europeans came to rule over many non-white people around the world, and for the British specifically, the problem of the Irish. The Irish were a colonized people and in Darwin’s time many had immigrated to England for work and to avoid the starvation caused by the Great Famine (1845–9). Although Darwin’s racism was mild compared to most of his contemporaries, he believed in races and was concerned about population control. In The Descent of Man (1871) he argues that a country that started with an equal number of Scots and Irish, would, after a dozen generations, have a population that was five-sixth Irish, but that five-sixths of the property and wealth would belong to the Scots.
现代优生学的创始人之一是弗朗西斯·高尔顿 (Francis Galton),他于 1883 年发明了这一术语,该术语将希腊语中“好”和“形成”的词根合并而成。他是使用社会统计数据和生物统计学(对人体的详细测量)的先驱。他利用这些工具来证明人们和人群之间在身体和智力上的差异是可以识别的。例如,他认为英国高等法院法官(这是一个需要教育和智力的重要社会职位)的儿子也可能成为法官或担任其他权威职位。他的结论是,连续几代人都如此成功有某种天生的生物学原因。这个想法吸引了许多人,尤其是上层阶级,他们可以声称他们的成功是生物学原因而不是某些远祖的运气造成的。
One of the founders of modern eugenics was Francis Galton, who invented the term in 1883 combining the Greek roots for “good” and “come into being.” He was a pioneer in the use of social statistics and biometry (detailed measurements of the human body). He used these tools to argue that you could identify physical and intellectual differences between people and groups of people. He argued, for example, that the sons of British high court judges (a socially important position that required both education and intellectual power) were likely to also become judges or hold other positions of authority. He concluded that there was some innate, biological reason for successive generations doing so well. This idea appealed to many people, particularly the upper class who could claim that biology and not the luck of some distant ancestor accounted for their success.
西比尔·戈托 (1885-1955) 和高尔顿于 1907 年创立了优生教育协会,该协会于 1909 年开始出版《优生学评论》。戈托是一名反贫困活动家,提倡性教育。她希望通过减少贫困家庭所生子女的数量,防止智力低下的人生下他们无法抚养的孩子,在一定程度上减少贫困。在工业化城市日益发展的大面积贫困时期,这些想法得到了广泛的支持,该协会吸引了英国社会的许多领军人物,包括神职人员和贵族。世界各国在二十世纪初引入了优生学法,其中许多法律包括非自愿绝育。
Sybil Gotto (1885–1955) and Galton founded the Eugenics Education Society in 1907 and the society began publishing The Eugenics Review in 1909. Gotto was an anti-poverty activist and promoted sex education. She hoped to reduce poverty in part by reducing the number of children born to poor families and preventing people of low intelligence from having children they could not support. In a time of mass poverty in the growing industrial cities, these ideas found widespread support and the society attracted many leading figures in British society including members of the clergy and the aristocracy. Countries around the world introduced eugenics laws at the beginning of the twentieth century and many of those laws included involuntary sterilization.
优生学一直有两个方面,有时被称为积极优生学和消极优生学。积极优生学鼓励“好”人多生孩子,并通过教育和自愿节育来阻止那些被认为不太好的人生孩子。消极优生学则是使用非自愿节育(通常是绝育)甚至谋杀来阻止那些被认为不适合生孩子的人。从历史上看,这种区别毫无意义。纳粹优生学计划的暴行建立在与优生教育协会提出的相同理念之上。所有这些都同样存在缺陷。虽然直觉上认为人类可以通过繁殖来增强某些特征,但生物学要复杂得多。最简单的问题,高尔顿本人指出,是回归均值。例如,两个身高特别高的父母更有可能生出更接近人口平均身高的孩子,而不太可能比父母更高。对于智力等非常复杂的事情,没有遗传公式可以决定聪明与否,产前和产后的营养或家庭财富等因素在认知发展中起着重要作用。此外,新兴的表观遗传学研究(研究不改变 DNA 序列的遗传变化)已明确表明,你的 DNA 并不是你的命运。
Eugenics has always had two aspects, sometimes referred to as positive eugenics and negative eugenics. The positive form encouraged “good” people to have more children and worked to prevent those considered less good from having children through education and voluntary birth control. The negative form of eugenics was the use of involuntary birth control (usually sterilization) and on occasion murder to prevent those people deemed unfit from having children. Historically, this distinction was meaningless. The atrocities of the Nazis’ eugenics program were built on the same ideas as those proposed by the Eugenics Education Society. All were equally flawed. Although it seems intuitive to think that humans can be bred to enhance certain characteristics, the biology is much more complex. The simplest problem, which Galton himself noted, was regression toward the mean. For example, two exceptionally tall parents are more likely to have children who are closer to the average height of the population and are less likely to be even taller than their parents. When it comes to something really complex such as intelligence, there is no genetic formula for smartness and factors such as pre- and postnatal nutrition or family wealth play major roles in cognitive development. Further, the emerging study of epigenetics (the study of genetic changes that do not alter DNA sequences) has made clear that your DNA is not your destiny.
颇具讽刺意味的是,二十世纪初最著名的关于进化论的公开争论,即所谓的斯科普斯猴子审判案,发生在许多生物学家对达尔文主义也不确定的时候。1925 年在田纳西州代顿市举行的审判必须以美国社会动荡为背景,特别是在经济萧条的南部,以及战争和战后时期造成的混乱。许多人将科学与局外人或外国人联系在一起,对科学家的看法往往受到反犹太主义或对无神论的恐惧的严重影响,而无神论与科学的唯物主义有关。
Somewhat ironically, the most famous early twentieth-century public dispute about evolution, the so-called Scopes Monkey Trial, occurred at a time when many biologists themselves were unsure about Darwinism. The 1925 trial in Dayton, Tennessee, must be set against the background of social turmoil in the United States, especially in the economically depressed South, and the disruption caused by the war and postwar years. Many people linked science to outsiders or foreigners, and feelings about scientists were often heavily influenced by anti-Semitism or fear of atheism, which was associated with the materialism of science.
田纳西州众议院第 185 号法案明确禁止任何接受州政府公共资金的学校教授进化论。地质学家兼矿主乔治·拉帕利亚 (George Rappalyea) 要求美国公民自由联盟 (ACLU)资助一场法庭挑战;当他们同意后,他问他的朋友约翰·斯科普斯,一位年轻的科学和体育老师,是否愿意因这个测试案件而被逮捕。这次审判引起了媒体轰动,聚集了两位著名律师,克拉伦斯·达罗(辩护方)和威廉·詹宁斯·布莱恩(控方)。来自全国各地和世界各地的记者来到代顿,希望看到一场重大的冲突。虽然审判是一场马戏表演(例如,达罗和布莱恩都被授予州民兵的荣誉上校),但它并不像一些人所希望的那样是科学和宗教的斗争。法官裁定进化论的证据不能被采纳,阻止辩方引入科学家的专家证词。但在法律史上最奇怪的转折之一中,达罗叫布莱恩作为《创世纪》的专家证人作证。最后斯科普斯被判有罪,罚款 100 美元,这实际上是美国公民自由联盟想要的结果,因为他们只能将案件提交上级法院,并在定罪后推翻立法。不幸的是,由于技术原因,该裁决在上诉中被推翻,使最高法院的裁决变得不可能,并允许原始立法生效。许多其他州也颁布了类似的法律,禁止教授进化论,直到 1968 年,最高法院才裁定所有这些专门反对进化论的法规都是违宪的,因为它们违反了第一修正案中关于政教分离的“政教分离条款”。这项裁决在 2005 年的Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District案中得到了检验。学校董事会将生物课程改为包括“智能设计”(一种理论,即生物复杂性只能来自智能设计师,而不是进化)。法院判决学区败诉,称智能设计是一种宗教思想,而不是科学思想。
The Tennessee House Bill 185 specifically banned the teaching of evolution in any school that received public money from the state. George Rappalyea, a geologist and mine owner, asked the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to finance a court challenge; when they agreed, he asked his friend John Scopes, a young science and sports teacher, if he would be willing to be arrested for the test case. The trial was a media sensation, bringing together two famous lawyers, Clarence Darrow (for the defense) and William Jennings Bryan (for the prosecution). Reporters from across the country and around the world arrived in Dayton hoping to see a major clash. While the trial was a circus (both Darrow and Bryan were made honorary colonels in the state militia, for example), it was not quite the battle of science and religion that some had hoped for. The judge ruled that evidence for evolution could not be admitted, preventing the defense from introducing expert testimony from scientists. But in one of the strangest twists in legal history, Darrow called Bryan to testify as an expert witness on Genesis. In the end Scopes was found guilty and fined $100, which was actually the result desired by the ACLU, since they could only take the case to a higher court and have the legislation overturned if there was a conviction. Unfortunately, the ruling was overturned on appeal due to a technicality, making a Supreme Court decision impossible and allowing the original legislation to stand. A number of other states enacted similar laws against the teaching of evolution, and it was not until 1968 that the Supreme Court ruled that all such specifically anti-evolution statutes were unconstitutional since they violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment regarding the separation of church and state. This ruling was tested in 2005 in the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. The school board changed the biology curriculum to include “intelligent design” (a theory that biological complexity can only arise from an intelligent designer, not evolution). The court ruled against the school district, saying that intelligent design was a religious, not a scientific idea.
进化论与教育的斗争至今仍在继续。许多国家限制教授进化论,或在公立学校的生物课程中加入宗教内容。很少有国家要求私立学校,尤其是宗教私立学校,将进化论(甚至一般科学)纳入课程。
The struggle over evolution and education continues today. A number of countries restrict the teaching of evolution or include religious material in the biology curriculum of public schools. Very few countries require private schools, especially religious private schools, to include evolution (or even science generally) in their curriculum.
在德国和意大利,法西斯分子利用遗传学和进化论来推行他们的种族主义意识形态。纳粹下令净化“雅利安血统”。在经济萧条、贫困和愤怒的氛围中,希特勒和墨索里尼纳粹党的激进政治理想得到了许多支持者的支持。德国科学家尤其处于困境之中。为了继续工作,他们不得不接受强加的政治控制,许多人甚至加入了纳粹党。有些人是自愿的,许多人是出于必要。其他人,特别是在 1933 年阿道夫·希特勒掌权后,选择离开德国、意大利和奥地利,以逃避法西斯主义。有些人,比如 1932 年离开德国的阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦,别无选择,因为他们是犹太人,或者与被新统治者拒绝或取缔的团体有过于密切的联系。他们可以留下来,放弃他们的科学事业,甚至生命,或者他们可以离开。
In Germany and Italy, the Fascists used genetics and evolutionary theory to impose their racist ideology. The Nazis ordered a purification of “Aryan blood.” In the midst of economic depression, deprivation, and anger, Hitler and Mussolini found many willing supporters for their radical political ideals. German scientists, in particular, found themselves in a difficult position. To continue their work, they had to accept the imposition of political control and in many cases even join the Nazi Party. Some did this willingly, many out of necessity. Others, particularly after Adolf Hitler seized power in 1933, chose to leave Germany, Italy, and Austria to escape fascism. Some, like Albert Einstein who left Germany in 1932, did not have much choice because they were Jewish or had too close associations with groups rejected or outlawed by the new rulers. They could stay and give up their scientific careers and perhaps their lives, or they could leave.
逃亡的科学家中,有些物理学家担心他们的德国同事正在研制超级武器。他们认识到居里夫妇和卢瑟福等人在放射性研究方面取得的进展,以及爱因斯坦对质量和能量关系的理论洞察,都表明铀等材料有可能制造出超级炸弹。
Among the escaped scientists were physicists who brought with them the fear that their German colleagues were developing a super weapon. They recognized how the advances made in radioactivity research by people such as the Curies and Rutherford and the theoretical insight into the relationship between mass and energy articulated by Einstein suggested the potential power of materials such as uranium to produce a super bomb.
第一次世界大战后,放射性的秘密仍在被揭开,因为出于多种原因,这一过程变得相当困难。最实际的原因之一是缺乏可供使用的材料,因为放射性元素稀有且难以提炼。第二个原因是污染。辐射影响实验室设备(以及物理学家自身的健康),尽管材料数量少且珍贵,但它们还是会洒落、涂抹和散落在实验室周围,直到实验室受到严重污染,研究人员不得不放弃它们并转移到新的地方。最后,放射性物质很难处理,因为它们不会静止不动。当它们辐射时,它们实际上会变成新物质。
The secrets of radioactivity were still being unraveled after World War I, since the process turned out to be rather difficult for a number of reasons. One of the most practical was the lack of material to work with, since radioactive elements were rare and hard to refine. The second was contamination. Radiation affected laboratory equipment (and the health of the physicists themselves), and even though the amounts of material were small and precious, they were spilled, smeared, and dissipated around the labs until the labs were so contaminated that researchers had to abandon them and move to fresh space. Finally, radioactive materials were hard to work with because they didn’t sit still. As they radiated, they literally turned into new substances.
10.1莉丝·迈特纳
10.1 LISE MEITNER
最有成果的研究项目之一是用中子轰击放射性物质。恩里科·费米(1901-54 年)继让·约里奥和伊雷娜·约里奥-居里之后,证明了许多元素的放射性同位素可以通过中子轰击产生。反过来,莉泽·迈特纳 (1878-1968) 和她的研究伙伴奥托·哈恩 (1879-1968) 自 1907 年以来一直致力于研究放射性问题,大约在 1936 年,他们开始研究铀轰击的产物。迈特纳是一位杰出的科学家,也是奥地利大学向女性开放后首批从大学毕业的女性之一。她前往柏林,不顾许多人的反对,学习了高级物理学,并于 1906 年获得博士学位。1926 年,她成为德国第一位女物理学教授,也是第一位在威廉皇帝研究所担任研究员并领取薪水的女性。
One of the most fruitful research programs involved bombarding radioactive substances with neutrons. Enrico Fermi (1901–54), following work done by Jean Joliot and Irene Joliot-Curie, demonstrated that radioactive isotopes of many elements could be produced by neutron bombardment. In turn, Lise Meitner (1878–1968) with her research partner Otto Hahn (1879–1968), who had been working on problems in radioactivity since 1907, turned to the products of uranium bombardment around 1936. Meitner was a remarkable scientist, one of the first women to graduate from an Austrian university after they were opened to women. She traveled to Berlin and, against the advice of many, studied advanced physics, earning her doctorate in 1906. She became Germany’s first female physics professor in 1926 and the first woman to receive a salary as a researcher at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute.
1933 年希特勒上台后,迈特纳因为是奥地利人而受到保护,但 1938 年德国吞并奥地利,迈特纳受德国法律管辖。作为犹太人,迈特纳处于危险之中,因此她逃往瑞典。哈恩继续与弗里茨·斯特拉斯曼 (Fritz Strassmann,1902-80 年) 合作研究放射性同位素的产生问题,并与迈特纳保持定期通信。他和斯特拉斯曼进行了一系列实验,他们用中子轰击铀,意外地产生了一种轻得多的元素钡。当哈恩将奇怪的结果寄给迈特纳时,她按照尼尔斯·玻尔提出的原子核“液滴”模型确定铀原子核一定已经分裂,这解释了较轻元素钡的形成。在玻尔的模型中,中子撞击重元素的原子核可能会发生以下三种情况之一:它可能被卡住,使原子核因中子而变重;它可能撞掉一部分原子核,释放出一些质子和中子;或者它可能导致原子核分裂,将少量物质转化为能量。迈特纳将这种现象称为分裂裂变。1939年初,她将自己的结论寄给了《自然》杂志。(见图10.2。)
In 1933, when Hitler took power, Meitner was protected because she was Austrian, but in 1938 Germany annexed Austria, and Meitner came under German law. As a Jew, she was in danger, so she fled to Sweden. Hahn, who continued working with Fritz Strassmann (1902–80) on the problem of the creation of radioactive isotopes, corresponded regularly with her. He and Strassmann produced a series of experiments in which they bombarded uranium with neutrons, unexpectedly producing barium, a much lighter element. When Hahn sent Meitner the strange results, she followed the “liquid-drop” model of the nucleus suggested by Niels Bohr to determine that the uranium nucleus must have split apart and this explained the formation of the lighter element, barium. In Bohr’s model, a neutron hitting the nucleus of a heavy element might do one of three things: it might get stuck, making the nucleus heavier by a neutron; it might knock off a bit of the nucleus, releasing a few protons and neutrons; or it might cause the nucleus to break apart, converting a small amount of matter to energy. Meitner called the splitting fission. She sent a letter with her conclusion to the periodical Nature early in 1939. (See figure 10.2.)
10.2裂变
10.2 FISSION
玻尔在美国参加一个会议时听说了迈特纳的发现。他赶紧告诉其他物理学家这一发现,引起了轰动。一些人回到实验室并重复了这一发现,证实了迈特纳、哈恩和斯特拉斯曼的工作。然而,对于利奥·西拉德(1898-1964)来说,这一发现开启了制造核弹的可怕可能性。西拉德,匈牙利人,1933 年离开德国,以躲避迫害。同年,他在伦敦散步时,萌生了中子链式反应的想法。这个想法非常简单。由于中子可以撞击原子核并释放出一个或多个中子,因此这些释放的中子可以引发大量连续的反应,释放出令人惊叹的能量。(见图10.3。)
Bohr was at a conference in the United States when he heard about Meitner’s finding. He rushed to tell other physicists about the discovery, and it caused a sensation. Several went back to their labs and replicated the discovery, confirming the work of Meitner, Hahn, and Strassmann. To Leo Szilard (1898–1964), however, the discovery opened up the horrific possibility of a nuclear bomb. Szilard, who was Hungarian, left Germany in 1933 to avoid persecution. That same year, while walking around London, he conceived the idea of a neutron chain reaction. The idea was a remarkably simple one. Since a neutron could strike an atomic nucleus and cause the release of one or more neutrons, these released neutrons could initiate a potentially continuous number of reactions, releasing an awe-inspiring amount of energy. (See figure 10.3.)
10.3链式反应
10.3 CHAIN REACTIONS
西拉德认为这种可能的过程非常危险,因此,当他于 1936 年获得该想法的专利时,他将其转让给了英国海军部,这是既能注册专利又能保密的唯一方法。当他了解到铀的裂变时,他意识到中子链式反应的实用方法现在已经存在,其结果可能是毁灭性的。
Szilard regarded this possible process to be so dangerous that, when he got a patent for the idea in 1936, he assigned it to the British Admiralty, the only way to both register the patent and keep it secret. When he learned about the fission of uranium, he recognized that a practical path to a neutron chain reaction was now available, and the results could be devastating.
第二次世界大战于 1939 年爆发,轴心国德国、意大利和日本与盟军英国(和英联邦)、法国和比利时展开对决。德国闪电战的力量压倒了盟军,比利时于 1940 年投降,当时已知的最大铀矿产地比属刚果落入德国手中。1940 年初,维尔纳·海森堡向德国陆军武器局发送了一份题为“关于铀裂变技术生产能源的可能性”的秘密文件。德国原子弹的威胁似乎非常真实。突然之间,超级武器的原料落入了希特勒手中。德国当然拥有制造这种武器的工业能力,尽管许多最优秀、最聪明的物理学家逃离了德国,但仍有像哈恩和斯特拉斯曼这样的大人物可以参与这个项目。
World War II began in 1939, pitting the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan against the Allied forces of Britain (and the Commonwealth), France, and Belgium. The power of the German blitzkrieg overwhelmed Allied forces and Belgium surrendered in 1940, putting the Belgian Congo, then the greatest known source of uranium, in German hands. Werner Heisenberg sent a secret paper entitled “On the Possibility of Technical Energy Production from Uranium Splitting” to the German Army Weapons Bureau in early 1940. The threat of a German atomic bomb seemed very real. Suddenly, the ingredients for a super weapon were in Hitler’s hands. Germany certainly had the industrial capability to create such a weapon, and, even though a number of the best and brightest physicists had fled Germany, there were still powerful minds such as Hahn and Strassmann available to work on such a project.
西拉德早期试图让美国政府对原子弹的想法产生兴趣,但收效甚微,因此在 1941 年,他说服爱因斯坦(现居美国)直接写信给富兰克林·罗斯福总统。尽管这封信对继续进行原子弹计划的决定产生了很大影响,但在决定继续研发原子弹的过程中,军方还咨询了恩里科·费米、尼尔斯·玻尔和约翰·冯·诺依曼等其他科学家,探讨原子能和原子弹的潜力。
Szilard’s early efforts to interest the American government in the idea of an atomic bomb had little apparent effect, so in 1941 he persuaded Einstein (now living in the United States) to write directly to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Although this letter was very influential in the decision to proceed with the project, the military also consulted with other scientists such as Enrico Fermi, Neils Bohr, and John von Neumann about the potential of atomic power and weapons as they made their decision to go forward with the bomb.
为罗斯福总统提供科学政策建议的关键人物之一是万尼瓦尔·布什 (Vannevar Bush,1890-1974)。他说服罗斯福成立了联邦研究机构——科学研究与发展办公室 (OSRD),他与哈佛大学校长詹姆斯·康纳特 (James Conant,1893-1978) 一起担任该办公室的负责人。OSRD 的主要兴趣之一是核能。布什是一名电气工程师,在第一次世界大战期间拥有军事研究经验;他还是麻省理工学院 (MIT) 的副校长和卡内基研究所的负责人。他计划利用大学网络进行研究,而不是扩建或建立新的联邦实验室。这些大学很乐意承担这项工作,因为提供的资金规模是自化学战争以来从未见过的。在这种联邦资金直接用于私人研究人员的体制下,许多最重要的美国研究中心得以建立,包括加州理工学院 (Caltech) 的喷气推进实验室 (JPL)、加州大学和麻省理工学院赞助的辐射实验室以及芝加哥大学的冶金实验室。联邦用于研究的资金(不包括曼哈顿计划)从 1940 年的 7,400 万美元增加到战争结束时的 15.9 亿美元。
One of the key figures who advised President Roosevelt on science policy was Vannevar Bush (1890–1974). He convinced Roosevelt to create the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), a federal research body, and he served as its head along with James Conant (1893–1978), president of Harvard University. One of the OSRD’s main interests was nuclear power. Bush was an electrical engineer with experience in military research during World War I; he was also a vice president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and head of the Carnegie Institution. He planned to use a network of universities to do research rather than expand or establish new federal laboratories. The universities were happy to take on the work since the funding provided was on a scale unseen since the days of chemical warfare. Under this system of federal money directed to private researchers, many of the most important American research centers were established, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the Radiation Laboratories under the auspices of the University of California and MIT, and the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago. Federal money for research (not including the Manhattan Project) rose from $74 million in 1940 to $1.59 billion by the end of the war.
1941 年 10 月,罗斯福听取了有关制造核武器可能性的汇报。他于 1941 年 12 月 6 日(日本袭击珍珠港的前一天)批准了这项研究。陆军将这项绝密项目的初始部分称为曼哈顿工程区,以隐藏其真实性质(和位置)。它汇集了科学界一些最有影响力的人才,以期在超级炸弹方面击败德国人。它被简称为曼哈顿计划,改变了世界历史的进程。
In October 1941 Roosevelt was briefed on the potential of building a nuclear weapon. He authorized this research on December 6, 1941, the day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The army’s initial part of the top-secret project was called the Manhattan Engineering District so as to hide its true nature (and location). It brought together some of the most powerful minds in science in a race to beat the Germans to a super bomb. Better known simply as the Manhattan Project, it changed the course of world history.
制造核武器的第一步是确认裂变持续链式反应的可能性,并评估生产必要材料时遇到的技术问题。裂变问题由意大利流亡物理学家恩里科·费米领导的团队承担,他已经因在放射性元素方面的工作而获得诺贝尔奖。1938 年,当他前往瑞典领奖时,他在意大利因没有穿法西斯制服而受到批评费米在芝加哥大学开始了他的曼哈顿计划。他在斯塔格球场西端的看台下,以前是壁球场,建造了一个小型反应堆,称为原子堆。它由石墨块(一种吸收中子的碳)、铀和氧化铀构成。用镉制成的控制棒插入穿过块体的孔中,用于限制裂变速率。1942 年 12 月 2 日下午 3 点 25 分,费米的团队慢慢拔出控制棒,受控的自持裂变反应开始了。(见图10.3。)这是“原子时代”的正式开始。
The first steps toward a weapon were to confirm the possibility of a sustained chain reaction by fission and to evaluate the technical problems associated with the production of the necessary materials. The fission problem was undertaken by a team headed by Italian émigré physicist Enrico Fermi, who had already won a Nobel Prize for his work on radioactive elements. When he traveled to Sweden in 1938 to receive the prize, he was criticized in Italy for failing to wear a Fascist uniform or give the Fascist salute. He and his family took the opportunity of their trip abroad to escape and never returned to Italy. Fermi began his work on the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago. He built a small reactor, called an atomic pile, under the bleachers at the west end of Stagg Field in a space that had previously been squash courts. It was constructed of blocks of graphite (a kind of carbon that absorbed neutrons), uranium, and uranium oxide. Control rods made of cadmium, designed to limit the rate of fission, were inserted in holes through the blocks. On December 2, 1942, at 3:25 in the afternoon, Fermi’s team slowly pulled out the control rods and a controlled self-sustaining fission reaction began. (See figure 10.3.) This was the official start of the “atomic age.”
亚瑟·康普顿(1892-1962)是研究制造核弹可能性的委员会成员,他亲眼见证了反应堆试验。他打电话给哈佛大学的詹姆斯·B·康纳特,让他用密码在电话中传达成功的消息,这通电话如今已是家喻户晓:
Arthur Compton (1892–1962), a member of the committee investigating the possibility of building a nuclear bomb, was present at the reactor test. He called James B. Conant at Harvard to pass on, in code, the news of the success in a now famous telephone exchange:
“意大利航海家已经登陆新大陆,”康普顿说。
“当地人怎么样?”康纳特问道。
“非常友好。” 3
“The Italian navigator has landed in the New World,” said Compton.
“How were the natives?” asked Conant.
“Very friendly.”3
费米原子堆解答了许多理论问题,下一步就是制造不受控制的链式反应。这是一个成本、范围和独创性都很大的项目。准将莱斯利·格罗夫斯被选为该项目的军事负责人。他受过工程师培训,有组织大型建筑工程的经验,包括建造五角大楼。他选择罗伯特·奥本海默 (1904-67) 担任科学总监。最终,他们将负责管理数百名科学家和数千名军人和文职人员。
With a number of the theoretical questions answered by Fermi’s atomic pile, the next stage was to produce an uncontrolled chain reaction. This was a big project in terms of cost, scope, and originality. Brigadier-General Leslie Groves was selected as the military head of the project. Trained as an engineer, he had experience organizing large construction works, including the building of the Pentagon. He chose Robert Oppenheimer (1904–67) as the scientific director. Ultimately, they would be in charge of hundreds of scientists and thousands of military and civilian workers.
必须克服两个主要障碍。第一个是铀本身。战争开始时,世界上精炼铀的数量可以用克来衡量,但曼哈顿计划需要数吨的铀矿石。由于最著名的铀矿在欧洲,而比属刚果在德国的控制下,因此需要新的矿山。对矿石进行了大规模的搜索。矿源必须是安全的,并且位于友好领土。幸运的是,在加拿大北部发现了大量资源,这成为主要铀矿之一原矿石供应商。搬运过放射性物质的当地工人报告称,晚年出现了令人不安的慢性病和癌症趋势。
Two major hurdles had to be overcome. The first was the uranium itself. At the start of the war, the amount of refined uranium in the world could be measured in grams, but tons of uranium ore would be needed for the Manhattan Project. With the best-known sources in Europe and the Belgian Congo under the control of Germany, new mines were needed. A massive search for ore was undertaken. Sources had to be secure and in friendly territory. Fortunately, large resources were found in northern Canada, which became one of the main suppliers of raw ore. Indigenous workers who had carried out the radioactive material reported disturbing trends of chronic illnesses and cancers in later years.
第二个问题是一个棘手的技术问题,关于所需材料种类。尼尔斯·玻尔曾指出,同位素U 235比U 238更能维持裂变。虽然两者都是自然产生的,但只有约 0.7% 的铀原子是U 235 。分离两者是一项艰巨的工作,因为它们在化学上完全相同,质量仅相差约 1%。尝试了三种分离方法:磁分离、气体扩散和气体离心。磁分离看起来很有希望。将气态四氯化铀通过强磁场。较重的U 238偏转较少,从而与所需的U 235分离。该系统由回旋加速器的发明者之一欧内斯特·O·劳伦斯(1901-58 年)在加州大学伯克利分校发明,但在工厂投入数百万美元后,却未能生产出所需的数量。气体离心机在试验操作中工作正常,但无法扩大到工业生产能力。剩下的就是气体扩散。当六氟化铀气体通过多孔粘土过滤器时,较轻的U 235更容易通过;经过反复过滤,获得了所需纯度的铀。田纳西州橡树岭工厂使用这种方法生产了铀弹的大部分材料。
The second problem was a sticky technical issue about the kind of material needed. Neils Bohr had pointed out that the isotope U235 would sustain fission far better than U238. While both occurred naturally, only about 0.7 per cent of uranium atoms were U235. Separating the two was an enormous job because they were chemically identical and only about 1 per cent different in mass. Three methods of separation were tried: magnetic separation, gaseous diffusion, and gas centrifuge. Magnetic separation looked promising. Uranium tetrachloride in gas form was passed across a strong magnetic field. The heavier U238 was deflected less and thus separated from the desired U235. This system was created by Ernest O. Lawrence (1901–58), one of the inventors of the cyclotron, at the University of California at Berkeley, but after millions of dollars were spent on the factory, it failed to produce the needed quantities. The gas centrifuge worked in experimental operation but could not be scaled up to industrial capacity. That left gaseous diffusion. As uranium hexafluoride gas was passed through porous clay filters, the lighter U235 passed more easily; after repeated filtration, uranium of the required purity was obtained. The massive Oak Ridge plant in Tennessee used this method to produce much of the material for the uranium bomb.
随着铀供应问题的解决,一个新的材料问题出现了,当时格伦·西博格 (1912-99) 提出钚比U 235具有更好的裂变特性。最近发现的元素Pu 239的最佳同位素是通过将U 238放入反应堆并让其吸收中子而产生的。铀被转化为钚,并通过添加中子来浓缩钚以制成可裂变材料。这种反应堆被称为“增殖反应堆”。因此,钚被添加到生产系统中,西博格负责为该项目生产钚。
With the uranium supply issue resolved, a new material problem was created when Glenn Seaborg (1912–99) suggested that plutonium offered even better fission properties than U235. The best isotope of the recently discovered element Pu239 was produced by placing U238 in a reactor and letting it pick up neutrons. Uranium was converted to plutonium, and the plutonium was enriched by having neutrons added to make fissionable material. Such a reactor was called a “breeder reactor.” Plutonium was therefore added to the production system, and Seaborg was put in charge of producing it for the project.
科学团队聚集在新墨西哥州洛斯阿拉莫斯,以解决制造爆炸反应所涉及的科学和工程难题。问题的核心是让装置中心的大量材料从无持续裂变转变为在特定时刻发生裂变。他们通过使用常规炸药制造内爆来实现这一点,这种炸药会压缩可裂变材料并引发不受控制的链式反应。将所有元素整合在一起的努力耗时数年,但最终,三位一体试验(称为 Gadget 的炸弹)于 1945 年 7 月 16 日在新墨西哥州阿拉莫戈多进行。三位一体试验于上午 5:30 左右爆炸,目击者 Enrico Fermi 估计其威力约相当于 10,000 吨 TNT。奥本海默引用了《薄伽梵歌》中的一句话:“现在我已成为死神,世界的毁灭者……” 4
The scientific team was assembled at Los Alamos, New Mexico, to work out the scientific and engineering difficulties involved in creating an explosive reaction. At the heart of the problem was getting the mass of material at the center of the device to go from no sustained fission to fission at a specific moment. They achieved this by creating an implosion with conventional explosives that compressed the fissionable material and set off the uncontrolled chain reaction. The effort to bring together all the elements took several years, but finally the Trinity Test, of a bomb called Gadget, took place at Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945. The Trinity Test exploded at about 5:30 a.m. Enrico Fermi, an eye witness, estimated the power was about equal to 10,000 tons of TNT. Oppenheimer quoted the Bhagavad-Gita, saying “now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.…”4
这次爆炸既是科学上的胜利,也是道德上的困境。1945 年 5 月 7 日,德国投降。与德国人的竞赛结束了。对于许多科学家,尤其是被法西斯分子赶走的欧洲人来说,这意味着不再需要超级炸弹。很少有人意识到,早在 1943 年,格罗夫斯就已经开始研究在太平洋战区使用这种武器。武器的制造和交付被推进了。最终,制造了三枚炸弹:小男孩、胖子和 4 号炸弹。
The explosion presented both a scientific triumph and an ethical dilemma. Germany had surrendered on May 7, 1945. The race against the Germans was over. For many of the scientists, especially the Europeans displaced by the Fascists, that meant the end of the need for a super bomb. What few realized was that as early as 1943, Groves had already been looking at the use of the weapon in the Pacific theater. The construction and delivery of the weapons were pushed ahead. In the end, three bombs were constructed: Little Boy, Fat Man, and Bomb #4.
利奥·西拉德对该项目仍在继续感到震惊,他再次去找阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦,要了一封给罗斯福的介绍信。西拉德想说服总统不要使用这些武器。他担心它们会造成的破坏以及由此引发的可能毁灭地球的军备竞赛。在安排会面之前,罗斯福于 1945 年 4 月 12 日去世。哈里·S·杜鲁门成为总统,在就职简报中,他了解到了曼哈顿计划。西拉德无法与杜鲁门会面,而是与杜鲁门的国务卿詹姆斯·伯恩斯会面。伯恩斯已经建议杜鲁门尽快使用炸弹,他拒绝了西拉德的顾虑。
Leo Szilard was horrified that the project was still continuing and once again went to Albert Einstein for a letter of introduction to Roosevelt. Szilard wanted to persuade the president not to use the weapons. He was concerned about both the devastation they would cause and the resulting arms race that might destroy the planet. Before the meeting could be arranged, Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945. Harry S. Truman became president, and among his briefings on assuming the office he learned about the Manhattan Project. Szilard could not meet Truman, meeting instead with James Byrnes, Truman’s secretary of state. Byrnes had already advised Truman to use the bomb as soon as possible, and he rejected Szilard’s concerns.
杜鲁门的顾问们同意军方的意见,认为应该在没有警告的情况下对日本使用原子弹。此外,还必须选择目标,以便研究爆炸的影响。杜鲁门面临着一个艰难的决定。尽管日本人损失惨重,他们进行了顽强抵抗,并公开发誓要战斗到死。军事规划人员表示,入侵日本本土可能会造成多达 100 万人伤亡,而炸弹袭击造成的伤亡人数会少得多。人们对偷袭珍珠港的愤怒仍在继续,而德国的战败使苏联军队得以加入对日作战,这进一步加剧了局势的复杂化。如果苏联参战,杜鲁门希望避免日本像德国分治那样被分裂。
Truman’s advisors concurred with the military that the bombs should be used without warning on Japan. Further, targets were to be chosen so that the effects of the blasts could be studied. Truman faced a hard decision. Although the Japanese were losing badly, they were offering stiff resistance and publicly vowed to fight to the death. Military planners suggested that as many as 1 million casualties might be expected from an invasion of mainland Japan, whereas many fewer would die from the bomb attacks. There was still anger over the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, and to further complicate the situation the defeat of Germany had freed the Soviet military to join the battle against Japan. Truman wanted to avoid the division of Japan following the precedent of the partitioning of Germany if the Soviet Union were to participate in the war.
因此,杜鲁门于 1945 年 7 月 21 日批准使用原子弹。7 月 26 日,盟军发布《波茨坦公告》,呼吁日本无条件投降,否则将面临“迅速彻底的毁灭”。两天后,日本政府拒绝了投降要求。开始为投掷原子弹做准备。8 月 6 日,凭借绝对的空中优势,埃诺拉·盖伊号飞向目标并在广岛投下了小男孩,没有受到任何干扰。8 月 9 日,胖子号摧毁了长崎。日本于 8 月 14 日无条件投降。两次核爆炸共造成 20 多万人死亡,其中绝大多数是平民。还有更多人受伤,有些人因辐射烧伤和中毒。
Therefore, Truman authorized the use of the atomic bombs on July 21, 1945. On July 26 the Allies released the Potsdam Declaration calling on the Japanese to surrender unconditionally or face “prompt and utter destruction.” Two days later the Japanese government rejected the call for surrender. Preparations were made for dropping the bombs. With complete air superiority, there was no interference on August 6 as the Enola Gay flew to its target and dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima. On August 9 Fat Man destroyed Nagasaki. Japan surrendered unconditionally on August 14. More than 200,000 people were killed in the two nuclear blasts, the vast majority of them civilians. Many more were injured, some from radiation burns and poisoning.
制造原子弹的成本约为 18 亿美元。相比之下,美国在坦克上花费了 54 亿美元,在所有其他炸药上花费了 26 亿美元。尽管制造核弹并不划算,但考虑到结果,许多人认为这是一笔合理的开支。然而,原子弹竞赛是否真的有必要仍然是一个争论点。战争结束时,几乎没有证据表明德国正在进行核研究,尽管一些最近解密的文件表明,德国的主要科学家可能已经能够制造出这种武器。这些文件是在战后的“Alsos”行动中出现的,在这次行动中,盟军询问了包括奥托·哈恩和维尔纳·海森堡在内的十位德国顶尖科学家。他们对广岛和长崎轰炸的讨论表明,他们已经了解了原子弹背后的技术细节和基本原理。这就把问题从“德国人在研制原子弹吗?”变成了“他们为什么不造原子弹?”
The effort to build the bombs cost about $1.8 billion. This can be compared to the $5.4 billion the United States spent on tanks and the $2.6 billion spent on all other explosives. Although building the nuclear bombs was not exactly a bargain, given the results many felt it was a justifiable expense. It remains a point of debate, however, whether the race for the bomb had really been necessary at all. At the end of the war there was little evidence that nuclear research was being undertaken in Germany, although some recently declassified documents suggest that key German scientists might have been able to construct such a weapon. The documents emerged after the war during Operation “Alsos,” in which the Allies debriefed ten of Germany’s top scientists, including Otto Hahn and Werner Heisenberg. Their discussion of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki suggests that they already understood the technical details as well as the basic principles behind the bomb. This changes the question from “Were the Germans working on an atomic bomb?” to “Why didn’t they build one?”
从某种程度上来说,三位一体试验释放了核精灵,但正如西拉德所预测的那样,日本遭到轰炸后,随之而来的是一场军备竞赛这使地球上所有生命的安全都处于危险之中。与科学家参与化学战相比,这更能引发一个问题:科学家在军事活动中应该扮演什么角色。是科学家对原子弹负有责任,还是政治家和军方领导人应该承担责任?国家安全在多大程度上应该决定科学政策?
In some ways, the Trinity Test let the nuclear genie out of the bottle, but in the wake of the bombing of Japan, as Szilard predicted, there followed an arms race that put the safety of all life on the planet at risk. It raises, even more than the involvement of scientists in chemical warfare, the issue of what role scientists have to play in military activity. Were the scientists responsible for the bomb, or did that responsibility lie with the politicians and military leaders? To what extent should national security determine science policy?
战后几年给许多人提供了一个简单的答案。在核武器和国家安全方面,科学家应该为国家工作。从头开始制造核武器需要三个条件:铀、能够制造核武器部件的工业基础设施以及足以管理前两个要素的智力资源。战争结束时,四个国家有能力制造核武器:美国、加拿大、英国和苏联。美国已经拥有了核弹,而加拿大作为较小的国家之一,没有追求独立的核计划,宁愿解除武装,也不花钱。苏联在战后不久就开始了核武器的研制工作,并于 1949 年 8 月 29 日在哈萨克斯坦的塞米巴拉金斯克引爆了第一颗原子弹乔 1,爆炸当量约为 10 至 20 千吨。英国科学家被迫从事核研究,其中一些科学家曾参与曼哈顿计划。尽管遭受战争的严重打击,英国仍然制定了自己的核计划,并于 1952 年试爆了第一枚核弹。
The postwar years provided a simple answer for many. Where nuclear weapons and national security were concerned, scientists were expected to work for the state. Three things were needed to manufacture a nuclear weapon from scratch: access to uranium, an industrial infrastructure capable of manufacturing the components of the weapon, and intellectual resources sufficient to manage the first two elements. At the end of the war, four nations had the capacity to build nuclear weapons: the United States, Canada, Britain, and the Soviet Union. The United States had the bomb already, while Canada, as one of the lesser powers, did not pursue an independent nuclear program, preferring to disarm and not spend the money. The Soviet Union began its work on a weapon shortly after the war, and on August 29, 1949, at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan, detonated its first atomic bomb, Joe 1, with about a 10- to 20-kiloton blast. British scientists, some of whom had taken part in the Manhattan Project, were pressed into nuclear work. Although badly battered by the war, Britain put together its own nuclear program and tested its first weapon in 1952.
甚至在战争结束之前,西方列强与苏联的联盟就已经很紧张。双方都将对方视为下一个敌人。乔治·巴顿将军甚至秘密讨论过在击败德国人后带着“他的士兵”前往莫斯科。因此,与一战后不同,二战中的科学团队没有解散并送回学术界,这并不奇怪。相反,在这种紧张的环境中(也就是后来被称为冷战),毁灭性武器的下一步被迈出。早在 1938 年,汉斯·阿尔布雷希特·贝特就研究了涉及轻元素的热核反应,以了解太阳(以及所有恒星)的运作方式。他的结论是,在适当的条件下,氢会发生聚变。在恒星内部的高温和引力压力下,氢原子被挤压在一起(或聚变)形成氦。当这种情况发生时,少量的质量会转化为能量。基本原理看起来很简单:1 H 2 + 1 H 2 → 2 He 4。(见图10.4。)
Even before the end of the war, the alliance between the Western powers and the Soviet Union was strained. Both sides saw the other as the next enemy. General George S. Patton even secretly discussed taking “his boys” on to Moscow after he defeated the Germans. So it was not surprising that, unlike during the years following World War I, the scientific teams of World War II were not disbanded and sent back to the groves of academe. Rather, in this charged environment, which has become known as the Cold War, the next step in destructive weapons was taken. As early as 1938 Hans Albrecht Bethe had studied thermonuclear reactions involving light elements in order to understand how the Sun (and all stars) functioned. He concluded that under the right conditions hydrogen would undergo fusion. At the great temperature and gravitational pressure inside a star, hydrogen atoms were squeezed together (or fused) to form helium. When that happened, a small amount of mass was converted to energy. The basic principle looked simple: 1H2 + 1H2 → 2He4. (See figure 10.4.)
10.4氢聚变成氦
10.4 THE FUSION OF HYDROGEN TO HELIUM
恒星的能量来自于转变过程中质量的损失,按照爱因斯坦的E = mc 2关系。大约 0.63% 的原始原子质量在转化为能量时损失。虽然这似乎虽然核聚变微不足道,但与核裂变产生的能量相比,核聚变却十分巨大。在核裂变中,铀原子分裂仅释放出 0.056% 的质量作为能量。换言之,核聚变释放的能量是核裂变的十倍以上。因此,太阳的能量每秒可将约 6.5 亿吨氢转化为氦。
The energy of the stars comes from the loss of mass that accompanies the transformation, following Einstein’s relationship of E = mc2. About 0.63 per cent of the mass of the original atoms is lost by conversion to energy. While this seems tiny, it is huge compared to the energy derived from fission, in which the splitting of a uranium atom releases only 0.056 per cent of the mass as energy. In other words, fusion released more than ten times as much energy as fission. Hence the power of the Sun, which converts about 650,000,000 tons of hydrogen to helium every second.
爱德华·泰勒(Edward Teller,1908-2003)在 20 世纪 40 年代初也一直在思考核聚变的威力。在裂变弹发明之后,他找到了一种为核聚变弹创造条件的方法。关于第一枚核聚变弹(即氢弹)的制造,仍然存在很多争议。斯坦尼斯拉夫·M·乌拉姆(Stanislaw M. Ulam,1909-84)和泰勒之间的优先权之争,以及围绕核军备竞赛的秘密,都遮蔽了确切的历史,但理论工作很可能是由泰勒和洛斯阿拉莫斯的其他人完成的,而该装置的初始设计是由理查德·L·加温(Richard L. Garwin,1928-)完成的,他是一位正在该设施进行研究访问的年轻物理学家。氢弹的基本结构是裂变弹被高氢包包围或紧挨着。裂变弹以达到核聚变反应的燃点的方式爆炸。泰勒支持研制这种武器,第一枚试验弹于 1952 年准备就绪。这枚炸弹有两层楼高,爆炸时,太平洋埃卢盖拉布岛化为灰烬。其威力相当于 1040 万吨高爆炸弹,大约是投在广岛的原子弹威力的 700 倍。
Edward Teller (1908–2003) had also been thinking about the power of fusion in the early 1940s. Following the invention of the fission bomb, he saw a way to create conditions for a fusion bomb. There is still a great deal of debate over the creation of the first fusion bomb, or H-bomb. A priority fight between Stanislaw M. Ulam (1909–84) and Teller as well as the secrecy surrounding the nuclear arms race have clouded the exact history, but it is likely that the theoretical work was done by Teller and others at Los Alamos, and the initial design of the device was done by Richard L. Garwin (1928–), a young physicist on a research visit to the facility. The basic structure of the hydrogen bomb was a fission bomb surrounded by, or next to, a high hydrogen package. The fission bomb exploded in such a way that it reached the ignition point for a fusion reaction. Teller championed the development of the weapon, and the first test bomb was ready in 1952. It stood two stories high, and when it was detonated, it vaporized the Pacific island of Elugelab. Its power was equal to 10.4 million tons of high explosive, or about 700 times the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
与裂变弹不同,氢弹的破坏力在理论上没有极限。科学家设想的武器威力强大到足以炸开大气层、夷平整个国家或制造巨大的海啸。破坏力的测量系统从千吨级跃升到百万吨级。除了聚变弹的原始破坏力外,还有巨大的辐射危险。更大的武器会释放出更多的放射性物质,如锶-90 和铯-137,它们被吹入大气层高空,然后从那里降落到广阔的区域。
Unlike the fission bomb, there was no theoretical limit to the destructive power of a hydrogen bomb. Scientists conceived of weapons powerful enough to blow huge holes in the atmosphere, flatten entire countries, or create gigantic tidal waves. The measurement system for destructive power jumped an order of magnitude from kilotons to megatons. In addition to the raw destructive power of the fusion bomb, there was also massive radiation danger. The larger weapons released far more radioactive materials such as strontium-90 and cesium-137, which they blew high into the atmosphere from where they rained down on a wide area.
许多科学家反对开发这些超级炸弹。罗伯特·奥本海默被剥夺了安全许可,并有效地阻止了由于反对研发更强大的武器,他拒绝为军方进行进一步研究。从 1947 年开始,《原子科学家公报》在封面上放置了一块世界末日时钟。第一块时钟设定在午夜前七分钟。1953 年,在美国和苏联都试验了聚变武器之后,时钟被设定在午夜前两分钟。1955 年,伯特兰·罗素和阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦发表宣言,呼吁所有政府寻求和平方式解决冲突并放弃核武器。马克斯·玻恩、珀西·布里奇曼、利奥波德·因费尔德、弗雷德里克·约里奥-居里、赫尔曼·穆勒、莱纳斯·鲍林、塞西尔·鲍威尔、约瑟夫·罗特布拉特和汤川秀树签署了该宣言。尽管战争迫使科学家们在国际科学界之上选择国家利益,但这些科学家的形象表明了一种重建国际科学共和国的反击。从第二次世界大战结束以来,这些相互竞争的忠诚度相互竞争,国家自豪感和安全感(以及资金来源)与科学理解的普遍性的信念相冲突。爱因斯坦说:“我不知道第三次世界大战会用什么武器,但第四次世界大战将用棍棒和石头。” 5
A number of scientists opposed the development of these super bombs. Robert Oppenheimer was stripped of his security clearance and effectively prevented from doing further research for the military because of his opposition to the development of bigger weapons. Beginning in 1947 the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists placed a doomsday clock on its cover. The first clock was set at seven minutes to midnight. In 1953, after both the United States and the Soviet Union tested fusion weapons, it was set to two minutes to midnight. In 1955 Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein issued a manifesto calling on all governments to find peaceful means to resolve conflicts and to give up nuclear arms. It was signed by Max Born, Percy Bridgman, Leopold Infeld, Frederic Joliot-Curie, Hermann Muller, Linus Pauling, Cecil Powell, Joseph Rotblat, and Hideki Yukawa. Although the war effort had forced scientists to choose national interests over the international community of science, the profile of these scientists indicates a countermove to recreate an international republic of science. From the end of World War II, these competing loyalties vied with one another, with national pride and security (and funding sources) pulling against a belief in the universal nature of scientific understanding. Einstein said, “I know not with what weapons World III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”5
这份宣言的签署人之一、遗传学家赫尔曼·穆勒 (Hermann Muller) 研究了基因突变,并特别意识到生物学工作中辐射的危险。现代科学的讽刺之处在于,破坏科学和生命科学都从同一来源获取材料。X 射线和放射性示踪剂在将遗传学家的工作带入细胞核心方面发挥了关键作用。在公众或关注物理学的政客几乎没有注意到的情况下,对遗传控制机制的探索仍在继续。利用物理实验室的许多资源和技术,遗传学和细胞生物学在第二次世界大战后获得了发展势头。
One of the signatories of this manifesto, the geneticist Hermann Muller, studied mutations in genes and was particularly aware of the dangers of radiation from his biological work. In one of the ironies of modern science, the science of destruction and the science of life drew on material from the same source. X-rays and radioactive tracers played a key role in taking the work of the geneticists into the heart of the cell. Quietly, almost without notice by the public or the politicians, whose attention was on physics, the quest for the control mechanism in inheritance continued. Using many of the resources and techniques from the physics lab, genetics and cell biology gained momentum in the aftermath of World War II.
研究领域从追踪种群遗传模式转向了解遗传物质本身的结构。物理学家在原子和亚原子层面上对自然的理解影响了生物学家。他们越来越多地寻求在染色体和分子层面上揭示遗传学。第一步是识别细胞内含有遗传信息的物质。
The area of investigation shifted from tracing population inheritance patterns to understanding the structure of the genetic material itself. Biologists were influenced by the understanding of nature at an atomic and subatomic level that physics provided. They increasingly sought to unravel genetics at the chromosomal and molecular level. The first step was to identify the substance within the cells that contained genetic information.
大约在孟德尔研究豌豆植物的同时,德国科学家弗里德里希·米歇尔 (Friedrich Miescher,1844-95 年) 正在分析医院丢弃的绷带中的脓液,希望找到一种治疗绷带伤口经常发生的感染的方法。他测试了分离出的物质,发现其中一些不是蛋白质。这是一个谜:这种物质在大量蛋白质中起什么作用?他发现这种被他称为核蛋白(后来称为核酸)的物质含有高浓度的磷,并得出结论,它是细胞核的一部分,充当磷的储存空间,人体需要少量磷。19 世纪 80 年代,奥古斯特·魏斯曼在研究染色体时发现染色体中也存在这种核酸。当哥伦比亚大学的摩尔根实验室开始进行果蝇实验时,人们已经接受了遗传信息是通过染色体中的某种物质传递的,要么是蛋白质,要么是这种核酸。
At about the same time that Mendel was working on pea plants, the German scientist Friedrich Miescher (1844–95) was analyzing pus from discarded hospital bandages, hoping to find a cure for infections that frequently occurred in bandaged wounds. He tested the material he had isolated and discovered that some of it was not a protein. This was a puzzle: What was this substance doing in a mass of proteins? He found that the material, which he called nuclein (later nucleic acid), contained a high level of phosphorous and concluded that it was part of the nucleus of a cell and acted as a storage space for phosphorus, which the body needs in small quantities. In the 1880s August Weismann, while investigating chromosomes, discovered that this same nucleic acid was present in them. By the time Morgan’s lab at Columbia University began its drosophila experiments, it was accepted that genetic information was passed on through something in the chromosomes, either the protein or this nucleic acid.
1928 年,英国医务官弗雷德·格里菲斯(Fred Griffith,1881-1941 年)在研究引起肺炎流行的细菌时,发现肺炎球菌有两种形式。一种形式(S)光滑且传染性极强;另一种形式(R)粗糙且无害。由于这两种形式都在患者体内发现,所以他想知道这两种形式之间可能存在什么关系。格里菲斯给老鼠注射了无害的活R细胞和热杀死的S细胞。老鼠死了,在它们体内发现了这两种类型的活细胞。他得出结论,S细胞中的某种物质被转移到R细胞中,使它们变成了有毒的S型细胞。如果可以分离出这种物质,就可以作为对照物质。
In 1928 Fred Griffith (1881–1941), a British medical officer, was studying the bacteria responsible for a pneumonia epidemic and found that the pneumococcus bacteria occurred in two forms. One form (S) was smooth and highly infective; the other (R) was rough and harmless. Because both were found in patients, he wondered what the relationship between the two might be. Griffith injected mice with harmless living R cells and heat-killed S cells. The mice died, and living cells of both types were found in their bodies. He concluded that some substance from the S cells was transferred to the R cells, changing them into virulent S-type cells. If it could be isolated, this would be the control substance.
1944 年,纽约洛克菲勒研究所的奥斯瓦尔德·西奥多·埃弗里 (Oswald Theodore Avery,1877-1955 年)、科林·麦克劳德 (Colin MacLeod,1909-72 年) 和麦克林·麦卡锡 (Maclyn McCarty,1911-2005 年) 团队报告称,他们已分离出格里菲斯的转化物质,并且它是一种核酸,具体来说,是脱氧核糖核酸,即 DNA。尽管并非所有人都相信,但这种大分子的研究却越来越多。噬菌体学派 (以其研究的噬菌体病毒命名) 使用放射性示踪剂来跟踪噬菌体感染中的分子事件;1952 年,AD 赫尔希 (AD Hershey,1908-97 年) 和玛莎·蔡斯 (Martha Chase,1930-2003 年) 发现噬菌体会留下蛋白质外壳,并用 DNA 感染细菌细胞。关于埃弗里/麦克劳德或赫尔希/蔡斯实验是否构成了将 DNA 识别为遗传物质的时刻,存在很多争议。在许多方面,答案取决于哪个专业分支学科(分子生物学或细菌学)被认为更重要,而不是哪个分支学科提供了明确的答案。然而,这两项发现共同指向了所有感兴趣的遗传学家,指出 DNA 分子的结构是理解遗传的关键。
In 1944 the team of Oswald Theodore Avery (1877–1955), Colin MacLeod (1909–72), and Maclyn McCarty (1911–2005), at the Rockefeller Institute in New York, reported that they had isolated Griffith’s transforming material and that it was a nucleic acid – specifically, deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. Although not everyone was convinced, the large molecule came under increased study. The Phage School (named for the phage viruses they studied) used radioactive tracers to follow molecular events in phage infection; in 1952 A.D. Hershey (1908–97) and Martha Chase (1930–2003) discovered that phages leave their protein coats behind and infect bacterial cells with their DNA. There is much debate as to whether the Avery/MacLeod or the Hershey/Chase experiments constitute the moment of the identification of DNA as the genetic material. In many ways, the answer depends on which professional subdiscipline (molecular biology or bacteriology) is considered more important, not which one supplied the definitive answer. The two findings together, however, pointed all interested geneticists toward the structure of the DNA molecule as the key to understanding inheritance.
赫尔希和蔡斯的工作比艾弗里和麦克劳德的工作影响更直接,因为他们已经确定了 DNA 的化学组成。1950 年,埃尔文·查加夫 (Erwin Chargaff,1929-92) 在揭示 DNA 的复杂性质方面迈出了重要一步。他确定 DNA 分子含有四种含氮碱基,腺嘌呤与胸腺嘧啶、鸟嘌呤与胞嘧啶的比例为一比一。这适用于来自各种生物体的所有不同样本。这些碱基可以在多核苷酸链上以任意顺序相互跟随,因此碱基的顺序有可能以某种方式影响遗传。这一发现是创建 DNA 模型所需的关键要素之一。
The work of Hershey and Chase had more immediate impact than that of Avery and MacLeod because the chemical composition of DNA had been determined. In 1950 Erwin Chargaff (1929–92) made a major step in unraveling the complex nature of DNA. He established that the molecule contained four types of nitrogenous bases, which existed in a one-to-one ratio of adenine to thymine and guanine to cytosine. This held true for all the different samples from a range of organisms. These bases could follow each other in any arbitrary order on the polynucleotide chain, so there was a possibility that the order of the bases somehow affected inheritance. This discovery was one of the key components needed to create a model of DNA.
探索 DNA 结构的竞赛开始了。它已成为科学史上的标志性案例研究之一,引发了人们对科学家实际工作方式、荣誉授予方式以及科学界和整个社会中的文化期望对科学实践的影响的疑问。历史学家之所以能够就这些事件提出这些问题,是因为许多相关人员都报告了发生的事情。在这方面,詹姆斯·沃森在《双螺旋》 (1968 年)中坦率地描述了他自己的工作,安妮·塞尔在《罗莎琳德·富兰克林和 DNA》 (1975 年)中也发现了对事件的另一种看法。
The race to discover the structure of DNA was on. It has become one of the iconic case studies in the history of science, raising questions about how scientists actually work, the way credit is awarded, and what effect cultural expectations, both within the scientific community and in the larger society, have on the practice of science. Historians have been able to ask these questions about these events because many of the people involved reported what happened. Particularly telling in this regard was the frank account of his own work written by James Watson in The Double Helix (1968) and an alternative view of events found in Anne Sayre’s study, Rosalind Franklin and DNA (1975).
许多实验室都在研究 DNA。美国的莱纳斯·鲍林 (Linus Pauling,1901-94 年) 将注意力转向 DNA 结构,而伦敦大学的罗莎琳·富兰克林 (Rosalind Franklin,1920-58 年) 与莫里斯·威尔金斯 (Maurice Wilkins,1916-2004 年) 合作,使用 X 射线晶体学分析 DNA。富兰克林在剑桥大学纽纳姆学院接受科学培训,并于 1947 年获得物理化学硕士学位。在担任过一系列研究职位(包括法国国家科学研究中心)后,她获得了伦敦国王学院的奖学金。1951 年,富兰克林拍摄了 B 型 DNA 的极其精细的 X 射线衍射照片,但她并没有立即看到结构,因为那只是众多不同图像中的一张。在伦敦,她的处境也不愉快,因为威尔金斯把她当成一名技术员而不是同事,而且大学和实验室的男性世界将她排除在非正式网络之外,而这种网络对于支持和联系而言非常重要,而这些往往是科学工作的基础。
A number of laboratories were working on DNA. Linus Pauling (1901–94) in the United States turned his attention to the structure, while at the University of London Rosalind Franklin (1920–58), in conjunction with Maurice Wilkins (1916–2004), used X-ray crystallography to analyze DNA. Franklin did her scientific training at Newnham College, Cambridge, obtaining her MA in physical chemistry in 1947. After a series of research positions, including the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, she obtained a fellowship at King’s College, London. In 1951 Franklin produced extremely fine X-ray diffraction photographs of what was called the B form of DNA, but she did not immediately see the structure, because it was only one of a number of different images. She was also in an unpleasant situation at London, as Wilkins treated her like a technician rather than a colleague, and the male-only world of the university and the laboratory excluded her from the informal networks so important for both support and the contacts that often underlie scientific work.
弗朗西斯·克里克(1916-2004)和詹姆斯·沃森(1928-)就遇到了这种情况。克里克曾是一名物理学家,从事战时工作,但现在正在剑桥攻读生物物理学博士学位,他读过薛定谔的《生命是什么?活细胞的物理方面》一书并深受其影响。他遇到了詹姆斯·沃森,美国人,22 岁就已获得博士学位,曾担任噬菌体遗传学家。尽管两人原本应该从事其他项目(克里克从事论文研究,沃森从事病毒研究),但他们决定尝试找出 DNA 的结构。他们着手建立一个模型,该模型与 X 射线衍射数据一致,并能解释自催化(DNA 一分为二)和异催化(传递信息以产生蛋白质和其他细胞,就像在生殖过程中发生的那样)。
Into this situation came Francis Crick (1916–2004) and James Watson (1928–). Crick had been employed in war work as a physicist but was now working on his PhD at Cambridge in biophysics, having read and been influenced by Schrödinger’s book What Is Life? The Physical Aspects of the Living Cell. He met James Watson, an American who had already earned his PhD at the age of 22 and who had done work as a phage geneticist. Although both men were supposed to be working on other projects – Crick on his thesis and Watson on viruses – they decided to try to find the structure of DNA. They set out to build a model that would agree with the X-ray diffraction data and account both for autocatalysis (DNA splitting in half) and heterocatalysis (transferring information to create proteins and other cells, as took place in reproduction).
沃森和克里克很清楚,DNA分子是一种具有恒定直径的长链聚合物。他们已经掌握了碱基和糖的基本化学知识,并且他们知道 DNA 分子中核苷酸的任何排列都必须考虑分子结构的规律性和化学稳定性。它还必须解释分子如何忠实地复制自身。三个因素影响了他们的想法。首先,不同的碱基似乎互相吸引。其次,查加夫已经证明碱基的比例是 1:1。最后,鲍林提出了螺旋的概念,她的模型构建启发了他们的研究。虽然早期的尝试出了大问题,上级警告他们专心做自己的工作,但沃森和克里克坚持了下来。一个重大突破是莫里斯威尔金斯在未经富兰克林知情或许可的情况下向他们展示了她的 DNA 晶体照片。图像显示该分子一定是双螺旋结构;沃森和克里克构建了一个模型,该模型看起来像一个由两个棘状物组成的扭曲梯子,碱基对(腺嘌呤、胸腺嘧啶、鸟嘌呤和胞嘧啶)排列成横档。(见图10.5。)它解释了遗传、生化和结构特征,并解释了自催化和异催化。同样,它预测了按碱基对顺序存储遗传信息的机制。1953 年 4 月 2 日,沃森和克里克在《自然》杂志上发表了他们的模型。这篇简短的论文只是这篇论文只有一页,引起了轰动。他们的模型得到了证实,细胞控制系统也得以揭示。由于这项研究,他们于 1962 年与威尔金斯共同获得了诺贝尔生理学或医学奖。(见图10.6,沃森和克里克及其 DNA 模型。)富兰克林的职业生涯都在研究 X 射线,她已经死于癌症,因此没有资格分享该奖项。
It was clear to Watson and Crick that the molecule was a long-chain polymer with a constant diameter. They already had the basic chemistry of bases and sugars, and they knew that any arrangement of nucleotides in the DNA molecule had to account for the regularity of the molecule’s structure as well as its chemical stability. It also had to account for how the molecule could replicate itself faithfully. Three factors influenced their thinking. First, unlike bases seemed to attract each other. Second, Chargaff had shown that the ratio of bases was 1:1. Finally, Pauling, whose model building inspired theirs, introduced the idea of the helix. While an early attempt went badly wrong and they were warned by their superiors to concentrate on their own work, Watson and Crick persisted. One major breakthrough came when Maurice Wilkins showed them, without Franklin’s knowledge or permission, her crystallographic photographs of DNA. The image revealed that the molecule had to be a double helix; Watson and Crick constructed a model that looked like a twisted ladder made of two spines with the base pairs (adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine) arranged as rungs. (See figure 10.5.) It accounted for genetic, biochemical, and structural characteristics and explained auto- and heterocatalysis. Equally, it predicted the mechanism of storage of genetic information in the order of the base pairs. On April 2, 1953, Watson and Crick published their model in the journal Nature. The brief paper, only a single page, was a sensation. Their model was confirmed, and the cellular control system was revealed. For this work they won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1962, sharing the honor with Wilkins. (See figure 10.6 of Watson and Crick with their model of DNA.) Franklin, who had spent her career working with X-rays, had already died of cancer and so was not eligible to share the prize.
10.5双螺旋
10.5 THE DOUBLE HELIX
10.6沃森、克里克和双螺旋
10.6 WATSON AND CRICK AND THE DOUBLE HELIX
来源:A. Barrington Brown/Science Source。
Source: A. Barrington Brown / Science Source.
毫无疑问,沃森和克里克做出了一项杰出的发现,但他们的方法似乎与人们通常认为的良好科学实践背道而驰。他们没有进行初步研究,而是从他人那里寻求信息,却很少分享。他们获取和使用富兰克林的作品似乎是暗中且可疑的,而且他们没有在首次出版时承认她的贡献。一方面,科学信息被视为“公开”的意思是,过去(现在在很大程度上仍然)期望人们在晚餐或啤酒中非正式地谈论工作和成果,并在会议上正式介绍和发表。人们还接受其他人会使用这些材料,无论其正式或非正式来源。另一方面,职业成功部分取决于优先权和公认的工作重要性。如果科学家使用他人的工作成果,他们应该注明来源。沃森和克里克忽视了科学革命以来科学意识形态中隐含的绅士行为准则的一部分。DNA 结构的竞赛表明,在科学中“任何事情都可能发生”(正如哲学家保罗·费耶阿本德所声称的那样),其意识形态越来越像达尔文的生存斗争,而不是罗伯特·波义尔所倡导的绅士见证。科学研究是否应该受到礼貌行为规则的约束,还是对知识的追求可以超越这些限制?
There is no doubt that Watson and Crick made a brilliant discovery, but their methods seem to run contrary to what is commonly taught as good scientific practice. They did no primary research but rather sought information from others, with little to share in return. Their access to, and use of, Franklin’s work seems underhanded and questionable, and they did not acknowledge her contribution in their initial publication. On the one hand, scientific information was regarded as “public” in the sense that it was (and still to a large extent is) expected that work and results would be talked about informally over dinner or beer, as well as being presented formally at conferences and published. It was also accepted that others would make use of that material, regardless of its formal or informal source. On the other hand, professional success was based in part on priority and the acknowledged importance of work. If scientists used other people’s work, they were expected to acknowledge their sources. Watson and Crick ignored part of the code of gentlemanly behavior implicit in the ideology of science dating back to the scientific revolution. The race for the structure of DNA suggests that in science “anything goes” (as philosopher Paul Feyerabend claimed) and that its ideology has come to resemble more closely some Darwinian struggle for existence than the gentlemanly witnessing espoused by Robert Boyle. Should scientific research be constrained by rules of polite conduct, or does the pursuit of knowledge override such limitations?
战后,各国政府越来越认识到科学的效用和力量,科学组织也因此发生了变化。冷战开始后,各国政府并没有像第一次世界大战后那样解散科学家团队,而是选择支持科学研究,并将其引导到政治上确定的目标上。所有工业国家和许多技术较不发达的国家都认识到拥有和发展科学知识以及将国家利益与研究利益结合起来的必要性。第二次世界大战后,几乎所有重要的科学突破都来自科学团队,而不是单个科学家。这些团队越来越多地由主要研究机构或联邦政府通过拨款和合同资助。虽然“大科学”的出现源于化学家战争,但真正巩固大型实验室权力并建立支持它们所需的庞大基础设施的是物理学家战争。
The utility and power of science was increasingly recognized by governments in the postwar years, and the organization of science was transformed as a result. With the start of the Cold War, governments did not dismiss their teams of scientists as they had after World War I but instead chose to support scientific research and direct it to politically determined objectives. All the industrial nations and many of the less technically advanced countries recognized the necessity of having and developing scientific knowledge and integrating national interests with research interests. After World War II, almost all-important scientific breakthroughs came from scientific teams rather than individual scientists. These teams were increasingly funded by major research institutions or by federal governments through grants and contracts. While the emergence of “Big Science” had its roots in the Chemists’ War, it was really the Physicists’ War that cemented the power of large laboratories and established the massive infrastructure needed to support them.
从学科角度看,物理学取代化学成为首要科学,并成为公众、政府、教育和工业界日益关注的焦点。生物学因其与物理学的联系而获得关注,但在资金方面仍远远落后于第二位。虽然世界强国的军事力量仍然对科学和科学家持怀疑态度,但科学的有效性德国闪电战首次证明了科学支持的军事活动的重要性,而更引人注目的是第一次使用核武器。原子弹爆炸后,科学的效用太强大了,以至于科学家们无法像第一次世界大战结束时那样回到安静的学术实验室。新的科学研究方法已经得到证实。
In disciplinary terms, physics replaced chemistry as the premier science and became the focus of increasing public, governmental, educational, and industrial attention. Biology gained by its connection to physics but remained a distant second in terms of funding. While the military forces of the world powers continued to regard science and scientists with some suspicion, the effectiveness of science-backed military activity was demonstrated first by Germany’s blitzkrieg and more spectacularly by the first belligerent use of nuclear weapons. The utility of science after the atomic bomb was too powerful to allow scientists to slip back into their quiet academic laboratories as they had largely done at the end of World War I. The new way to do science had been proven.
“大科学”拥有大量资金、大型实验室以及越来越多的科学家团队,致力于各国政府制定的研究计划,这是未来的发展方向。美国和苏联隔着意识形态鸿沟相互对峙,集结了各自的科学力量。这种科学集结产生了新的军备竞赛及其必然结果——太空竞赛。科学的地位和研究实践发生了永久性的变化。
“Big Science” with big funding, big laboratories, and larger and larger teams of scientists working on research agendas established by national governments was the way of the future. The United States and the Soviet Union, staring at each other across an ideological chasm, mustered their scientific forces. This marshaling of science produced the new arms race and its corollary, the race to space. The place of science and the practice of research were permanently changed.
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1.勒·柯布西耶,《Vers une Architecture》(巴黎:G. Crés et C.,1923)。
1. Le Corbusier, Vers une architecture (Paris: G. Crés et C., 1923).
2.E. Schrödinger,“量子机械中的 Die gegenwartige Situation”,Die Naturwissenscaften 23 (1935):807–49;约翰·D·特里默 (John D. Trimmer),译,“量子力学的现状:薛定谔‘猫悖论’论文的翻译”,美国哲学会论文集124,第 1 期。 5(1980):323-38。也在《量子理论和测量》,编辑。 JA Wheeler 和 WH Zurek(新泽西州普林斯顿:普林斯顿大学出版社,1983 年),152–67。
2. E. Schrödinger, “Die gegenwartige Situation in der Quantenmechanik,” Die Naturwissenscaften 23 (1935): 807–49; John D. Trimmer, trans., “The Present Situation in Quantum Mechanics: A Translation of Schrödinger’s ‘Cat Paradox’ Paper,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 124, no. 5 (1980): 323–38. Also in Quantum Theory and Measurement, eds. J.A. Wheeler and W.H. Zurek (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983), 152–67.
3.亚瑟·康普顿,《原子探索》(纽约:牛津大学出版社,1956 年),144。
3. Arthur Compton, Atomic Quest (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956), 144.
4.罗伯特·奥本海默 (Robert Oppenheimer) 引用了《薄伽梵歌》,载于费伦茨·莫顿·萨斯 (Ferenc Morton Szasz) 的《太阳升起两次的那一天》 (阿尔伯克基:新墨西哥大学出版社,1984 年),第 89 页。
4. Robert Oppenheimer, quoting the Bhagavad-Gita, in Ferenc Morton Szasz, The Day the Sun Rose Twice (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984), 89.
5.爱丽丝·卡拉普赖斯,《新爱因斯坦名言录》(新泽西州普林斯顿:普林斯顿大学出版社,2005 年),173。
5. Alice Calaprice, The New Quotable Einstein (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005), 173.
1957年10月4日,莫斯科广播电台宣布苏联发射了人造卫星,遥远的星空又近了一步。
On October 4, 1957, Moscow radio announced that the Soviet Union had launched Sputnik and the distant stars were one step closer.
太空飞行的梦想可以追溯到几个世纪前,但直到二战后大科学的胜利,科学组织和技术发展的必要组成部分才使得将物体发射到太空成为可能。虽然个人成就仍然很重要,尤其是当诺贝尔奖越来越多地被吹捧为国家科学实力的标杆时,但科学家独自在自制实验室工作的时代基本上已经结束了。问题越大,解决问题的团队就越大。
Dreams of space flight went back centuries, but only with the triumph of Big Science after World War II did the necessary components of scientific organization and technological development make it possible to launch objects into space. While individual achievement was still important, especially when Nobel Prizes were increasingly touted as a benchmark for the prowess of national science, the days of the lone scientist working in a homemade laboratory were essentially over. The bigger the question, the bigger the team created to solve it.
此外,科学现在也是一种公共商品。斯普特尼克(意为“同路人”)绕地球运行,高度达到 900 公里,以每小时 29,000 公里的速度划过天空。它就像夜空中的灯塔,骄傲地宣告着苏联的科学技术优势。与 17 世纪自然哲学家在赞助人的宫廷中找到的相比,现在,宣传、声望和民族自豪感与科学成就联系在一起,而且联系更加公开。人们对科学的兴趣在大众文化中激起了涟漪,出现了许多关于间谍窃取秘密配方或将研究人员从外国偷运出来的电影和小说。内维尔·舒特在《海滩》(1957 年)中描写了原子弹大屠杀导致的世界末日,他的书于 1959 年被改编成同名电影。诺贝尔奖在战前大部分都是小新闻,现在却成为世界各地报纸的头条新闻。
In addition, science was now a public commodity. Sputnik, which means “fellow traveler,” orbited the Earth at an altitude of 900 kilometers and flashed across the sky at 29,000 kilometers per hour. It was a beacon in the night, proudly proclaiming the scientific and technological superiority of the Soviet Union. Publicity, prestige, and national pride were now linked to scientific achievement in a much more public way than seventeenth-century natural philosophers had found in their patrons’ courts. Interest in science sent ripples through popular culture, with the appearance of movies and novels about spies stealing secret formulas or smuggling researchers out of foreign countries. Nevil Shute wrote about the end of the world by atomic holocaust in On the Beach (1957), and his book was turned into a film of the same title in 1959. The Nobel Prizes, which had for the most part been a minor news item before the war, now made newspaper headlines around the world.
人造卫星的发射不仅具有政治和军事意义,还产生了心理影响。这是人类手工创造的物体第一次离开地球。虽然地球作为行星的概念已经牢固确立,但从实践角度看,直到 1957 年,地球一直是人类经验的极限。随着太空时代的开启,人们可以将太阳系和银河系想象成不仅仅是通过望远镜看到的图像。曾经的幻想和科幻小说变成了现实,极大地扩展了人类活动的潜在区域。它还加速了地球作为单一生物物理单元的理念的传播——一个单一的世界,而不是大陆或政治上截然不同的地区的集合,这些地区可以不考虑全球其他地区的情况而运转。
The launch of Sputnik had not only political and military implications but also a psychological impact. For the first time, something created by human hands had left the Earth. While the concept of the Earth as a planet was firmly established, in practical terms it had been the limit of human experience until 1957. With the opening of the space era, it was possible to conceive of the solar system and the galaxy as something more than images seen through a telescope. What had been the realm of fantasy and science fiction became reality, expanding the potential zone of human activity enormously. It also hastened the spread of the idea of the Earth as a single biophysical unit – a single world, not a collection of continents or politically distinct regions that could function without regard for the state of other parts of the globe.
1957 年,即人造卫星发射的那一年,被宣布为国际地球物理年 (IGY)。国际科学联合会 (ICSU) 是各国科学协会的伞状组织,它发起了一项大规模研究项目,研究地球及其与宇宙的相互作用。IGY 从 1957 年 7 月持续到 1958 年 12 月,其中一些项目持续的时间更长。IGY 和人造卫星也体现了现代世界科学和科学界面临的意识形态紧张局势。IGY 的科学应该是合作的、国际的、创造性的、无党派的和开放的。许多科学家认为这些是科学的真正特征,他们努力让政府和国际社会庆祝这一愿景。另一方面,太空竞赛的特点是保密、民族主义和党派主义;此外,它的军事基础致力于破坏。意识到要进行军事竞争,就必须进行科学竞争,世界各地的军事领导人很容易找到科学家来参与他们的项目,而且通常都得到了科学界的支持。因此,太空竞赛、军备竞赛和 IGY 对国家来说代表着不同类型的效用。尽管 IGY 和 Sputnik 的特点明显不同,但它们共存并不奇怪,因为它们都为赞助这项工作的人带来了好处。
The same year that Sputnik was launched, 1957, was proclaimed the International Geophysical Year (IGY). The International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), an umbrella organization of various national scientific associations, initiated a massive research project to study both the Earth and the Earth’s interaction with the universe. IGY ran from July 1957 to December 1958, with some of its projects running much longer. IGY and Sputnik also embody the ideological tension facing science and the scientific community in the modern world. The science of the IGY was to be cooperative, international, creative, nonpartisan, and open. Many scientists felt that these were the true characteristics of science, and they worked to get governments and the international community to celebrate this vision. The race to space, on the other hand, was characterized by secrecy, nationalism, and partisanship; moreover its military foundation was dedicated to destruction. Realizing that to compete militarily it was necessary to compete scientifically, military leaders around the world had little trouble finding scientists to work on their projects and generally enjoyed the support of the scientific community. Thus, the race to space, the arms race, and IGY represent different kinds of utility to the state. It is not surprising that IGY and Sputnik coexisted despite their apparently different characteristics, since both offered benefits to those who sponsored the work.
IGY 和 Sputnik 的意义也必须放在一个处于边缘的世界的背景下看待。美国于 1952 年试验了一枚不可投掷的聚变炸弹。苏联于 1953 年试验了第一枚部分聚变炸弹 Joe 4。同年,朝鲜战争陷入僵局。华沙条约组织(相当于北大西洋公约组织 (NATO) 的东欧集团组织)于 1955 年成立,加剧了人们对另一场欧洲战争的担忧。1956 年的局势尤其紧张。当时正在与东欧集团国家建立联系的埃及人计划将苏伊士运河收归国有,从而切断了通往东方的交通和通往欧洲的石油供应。为了阻止这一行动,英国、法国和以色列策划了一次大胆的攻击。以色列占领了苏伊士运河,然后将其交给了英国和法国。当美国政府未能支持他们,苏联威胁进行干预时,入侵部队被迫撤退。英国和法国看起来无能为力,败局已定。同年,匈牙利反对苏联统治的起义被残酷镇压,美国军队在比基尼环礁引爆了有史以来最大的氢弹。
The significance of IGY and Sputnik must also be seen in the context of a world on the edge. The United States tested a non-deliverable fusion bomb in 1952. The Soviet Union tested its first partial fusion bomb, Joe 4, in 1953. In the same year, the Korean War ended in a stalemate. The Warsaw Pact, the Eastern Bloc equivalent of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), was formed in 1955, heightening fears of another European war. And 1956 was particularly tense. The Egyptians, who were establishing ties with Eastern Bloc countries, planned to nationalize the Suez Canal, thus cutting off transportation to the East and oil supplies to Europe. To thwart this, Britain, France, and Israel planned a daring attack. Israel seized the Suez Canal and then surrendered it to the British and the French. When the American government failed to back them and the Soviet Union threatened intervention, the invading troops were forced to withdraw. Britain and France were left looking powerless and defeated. In the same year, a revolt against Soviet rule in Hungary was brutally suppressed, and the American military exploded the biggest hydrogen bomb ever at Bikini Atoll.
11.1氢弹试验,比基尼环礁,1956 年
11.1 HYDROGEN BOMB TEST, BIKINI ATOLL, 1956
1957 年 11 月 3 日,斯普尼克 2 号发射,证实了苏联火箭计划的能力,并明确了军事威胁。斯普尼克 2 号不仅比斯普尼克 1 号大得多,而且船上还有一只西伯利亚犬莱卡。它在轨道上生活了八天,直到氧气耗尽。斯普尼克 2 号重 508 公斤,大到足以成为武器。第二次世界大战将作战区域从第一次世界大战战壕的几公里扩大到重型轰炸机和 V-2 火箭的射程,而斯普尼克卫星的发射实际上完全消除了“前线”的概念。
The launch of Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957, confirmed the capabilities of the Soviet rocket program and clarified the military threat. Sputnik 2 was not only much larger than Sputnik 1 but on board was Laika, a Siberian dog. She lived in orbit for eight days until her oxygen supply ran out. Weighing 508 kilograms, Sputnik 2 was large enough to be a weapon. Where World War II had expanded the zone of combat from the few kilometers of the trenches of World War I to the range of heavy bombers and V-2 rockets, the launch of the Sputnik satellites effectively eliminated the concept of the “front line” altogether.
然而,第一颗卫星的发射让全世界的人都为之着迷。全世界的人们收听着卫星发射的广播,凝视着夜空,希望看到卫星飞驰而过。有些人,尤其是科幻小说作家和粉丝,认为卫星发射标志着人类童年的结束,这一里程碑标志着人类发展新纪元的开始,届时我们将离开地球的摇篮,走向外星。
And yet the launch of the first satellite fascinated the world’s populations. Around the globe, people tuned into the radio beep that Sputnik broadcast and stood staring at the night sky hoping to see the satellite zoom by. Some people, particularly science fiction writers and fans, considered the launch of Sputnik the end of human childhood, a milestone that signaled the beginning of the next era of human development when we would leave the cradle of the Earth and move out to the stars.
劳埃德·V·伯克纳 (Lloyd V. Berkner,1905-67 年) 和悉尼·查普曼 (Sydney Chapman,1888-1970 年) 于 1950 年发起了国际地球大气年 (IGY) 的构想。伯克纳是一名电气工程师,但对电子、核开发、雷达和无线电、火箭和大气科学有着广泛的兴趣。1950 年,他在华盛顿卡内基研究所的地磁学系从事电离层物理学研究;1951 年至 1960 年,他担任联合大学公司负责人,该公司负责管理原子能委员会 (AEC) 的布鲁克海文实验室。查普曼拥有工程学、物理学和数学学位,长期以来一直对大气科学感兴趣,并于 1930 年提出了臭氧产生和消耗的理论;同年,他与文森特·费拉罗 (Vincent Ferraro) 合作,提出了磁暴是由太阳喷射出的等离子体包围地球时引起的理论。
Lloyd V. Berkner (1905–67) and Sydney Chapman (1888–1970) initiated the idea of the IGY in 1950. Berkner was an electrical engineer by training but had wide interests in electronics, nuclear development, radar and radio, rocketry, and atmospheric science. In 1950 he was working on ionospheric physics in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington; from 1951 to 1960 he was head of Associated Universities, Inc., which ran the Brookhaven Laboratories for the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Chapman, who had degrees in engineering, physics, and mathematics, had been interested for a long time in atmospheric science, having proposed a theory of ozone creation and depletion in 1930; in that same year, in association with Vincent Ferraro, he theorized that magnetic storms were caused when plasma ejected from the Sun enveloped the Earth.
由于伯克纳曾在 1932-3 年第二次国际极地年(第一次发生在 1882-3 年)期间与海军上将伯德一起参与南极探险,因此他将极地年作为这个新的更大项目的模型。国际极地年由国际科学理事会于 1952 年发起,国际科学理事会是联合国 (UN) 的一个分支机构,旨在促进国际科学合作。为了管理实际运作,国际科学理事会成立了国际地球物理年特别委员会,查普曼担任主席,伯克纳担任副主席。最终,约有 67 个国家参加了该项目。除了收集信息外,国际科学理事会还建立了世界数据中心,用于存档和传播所生成的信息。世界数据中心至今仍在运行。
Since Berkner had served with Admiral Byrd on his Antarctic expedition during the second International Polar Year in 1932–3 (the first occurred in 1882–3), he used the Polar Year as a model for this new and bigger project. The IGY was initiated in 1952 by the ICSU, an arm of the United Nations (UN) created to promote international scientific cooperation. To manage the actual operations ICSU established the Comité Spécial de l’Année Geophysique Internationale, with Chapman as its president and Berkner as vice-president. In the end, some 67 nations took part. In addition to gathering information, the ICSU established the World Data Centers, which archived and disseminated the information produced. The World Data Centers continue to function to this day.
1957 年被选为 IGY,是因为这一年恰逢太阳黑子活动预期高峰,而太阳黑子活动遵循 11 年的周期。其他研究领域包括极光和气辉、宇宙射线、地磁学、冰川学、重力、电离层物理学、经纬度测定、气象学、海洋学、火箭学和地震学。这项大规模工作的成果是有关地球及其邻近行星结构和功能的最伟大记录之一。
The year 1957 was picked for IGY because it coincided with an expected peak in sun-spot activity, which followed an 11-year cycle. Other areas of research were aurora and air glow, cosmic rays, geomagnetism, glaciology, gravity, ionospheric physics, longitude and latitude determination, meteorology, oceanography, rocketry, and seismology. The result of this massive undertaking was one of the greatest records of the structure and function of planet Earth and its neighborhood.
地质和海洋学工作提供了第一张地球结构的全球地图。尽管各国政府(尤其是英国政府)已经完成了大量绘制地球地图的工作,并进行了地质调查,但材料整合得并不好。因此,IGY 的任务之一就是协调大量先前收集的数据。
The geological and oceanographic work provided the first global map of the structure of the planet. Although huge amounts of work had been done mapping the globe and geological surveys had been undertaken by various governments, especially the British, the material was not well integrated. Therefore, one of the tasks of the IGY was to coordinate masses of previously gathered data.
伯克纳和地质学家希望通过汇编现有数据和新数据来解决的主要问题之一是海洋和大陆的形成问题。尽管研究这个问题的具体方法主要来自十九世纪的地质学,特别是莱尔和他的《地质学原理》,但地震仪等新工具正在改变地质学家和地球物理学家研究地球的方式。
One of the major topics of interest that Berkner and the geologists hoped to address with this compilation of existing and new data was the question of ocean and continent formation. Although the specific approaches to the research question came primarily from nineteenth-century geology, particularly from Lyell and his Principles of Geology, new tools such as the seismograph were changing the way geologists and geophysicists studied the Earth.
就像从牛顿宇宙到爱因斯坦宇宙的转变一样,当阿尔弗雷德·洛塔尔·魏格纳(Alfred Lothar Wegener,1880-1930 年)在 1912 年提出大陆漂移理论时,地质学的稳定性也受到了质疑。魏格纳是一名天文学家,主要从事气象学工作,他注意到地质区域明显“契合”,比如南美洲与非洲西海岸,以及动物和化石分布的某些相似性;他将这些与古气候学证据结合起来。他并不是第一个注意到这些关系的人。爱德华·苏斯(Eduard Suess,1831-1914 年)在他 1883 年至 1909 年间出版的五卷本地质著作《地球的表面》 (Das Antlitz der Erde)中提出了名为冈瓦纳大陆和劳亚古陆的超大陆的存在。苏斯解释说,史前连接各大洲的陆桥已经消失、受到侵蚀或坍塌至海洋。相反,魏格纳认为地球在最初时期处于熔融状态,冷却时收缩,较轻的大陆物质上升到密度较大的地壳玄武岩之上,形成一个超大陆,他将其称为盘古大陆。这块大陆随后分裂,代表当前大陆块的部分“漂浮”开。1915 年,魏格纳在《大陆和海洋的起源》中发表了详细而扩展的理论。虽然该理论很受欢迎(魏格纳的书被翻译成多种语言并重印了 5 次以上),但它几乎被地质界完全否定。虽然部分否定是出于领土原因——气象学家对地质学有什么了解?——但怀疑的理由很充分。魏格纳没有提出任何合理的机制来解释大陆为何移动,他似乎认为,除其他外,如果各大山脉是在超大陆形成时形成的,那么它们的年龄大致相同。所有地质学家都清楚,世界上的山脉并不是同一年龄。
Like the shift from the Newtonian to the Einsteinian universe, the stability of geology was called into question when Alfred Lothar Wegener (1880–1930) introduced his ideas about continental drift in 1912. Trained as an astronomer and working mostly in meteorology, Wegener had noticed both the apparent “fit” of geological regions, such as South America with the west coast of Africa, and certain similarities in the distribution of animals and fossils; he combined these with paleoclimatological evidence. He was not the first to notice these relationships. Eduard Suess (1831–1914) had suggested the existence of supercontinents called Gondwanaland and Laurasia in his massive five-volume geological work Das Antlitz der Erde (The Face of the Earth), published between 1883 and 1909. Suess explained that the land bridges that connected the continents in prehistoric times had since disappeared, eroded, or collapsed into the oceans. In contrast, Wegener argued that the Earth had been molten in its earliest days and that it had contracted as it cooled, allowing lighter continental material to rise above the denser basalt of the crust, forming one supercontinent, which he called Pangaea. This continent subsequently broke up, and the parts representing the current continental masses “floated” apart. In 1915 Wegener published a detailed and expanded theory in Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane (The Origin of the Continents and Oceans). While the theory was popular (Wegener’s book was translated into several languages and reprinted more than five times), it was almost completely rejected by the geological community. Although part of the rejection was territorial – what did a meteorologist know about geology? – there were good reasons to be skeptical. Wegener offered no reasonable mechanism for why the continents moved and seemed to suggest, among other things, that the various mountain ranges were about the same age if they were created during the formation of the supercontinent. It was clear to all geologists that the mountains of the world were not the same age.
1929 年,亚瑟·霍姆斯 (Arthur Holmes,1890-1965) 试图通过假设地幔中的热对流来复兴魏格纳的理论。热物质的密度小于冷物质,因此会上升。当它冷却时,它会再次下沉,就像锅里的布丁一样。这种加热和冷却的循环可能会导致大陆移动。霍姆斯的想法没有引起太多关注,尽管地质学领域的持续研究揭示了更多关于地球结构的信息,并没有排除这种可能性。大陆和海洋形成的问题仍有待解决。
In 1929 Arthur Holmes (1890–1965) attempted to revive Wegener’s theory by postulating thermal convection in the Earth’s mantle. Hot material was less dense than cool material, and thus it would rise. When it cooled, it would sink back again, like pudding in a pot. This cycle of heating and cooling might make the continents move. Holmes’s idea received little serious attention, although continuing work in geology, revealing significantly more information about the structure of the planet, did not rule it out. The question of continent and ocean formation remained to be resolved.
在 IGY 期间,海洋学家努力绘制海底地图。测绘结果不仅揭示了一系列大洋中脊,而且揭示了它们附近的海底并不均匀。大洋中脊附近的海底较新,沉积物较少,岩石较年轻。这与预期相反。如果海洋非常古老,那么它们的海底应该有厚厚的沉积物,这些沉积物是数千年来沉积下来的。更令人惊讶的发现是地磁倒转。利用为探测潜艇而开发的设备,科学家绘制了构成海底的岩石的磁取向。令他们惊讶的是,他们发现磁铁矿的磁取向在海洋中发生了变化。当岩石处于液态时,其中的粒子随机地朝向地球磁场,但一旦开始凝固,粒子就会沿着磁力线排列,就像数百万个小指南针一样。一旦岩石凝固,取向就会固定下来,指向一个方向,不受磁场变化的影响。海洋岩石带清楚地表明,磁场已经移动,甚至改变了位置,磁北极和磁南极也转换了。这些反转非常迅速,导致岩石带的磁方向完全不同,从海沟到大陆,这些岩石带似乎或多或少呈对称分布。(见图11.2。)
During IGY, oceanographers worked hard to map the ocean floors. The mapping revealed not only a series of mid-ocean ridges but that near them the ocean floor was not uniform. It was newer near the mid-ocean ridges, with less sediment and younger rock. This ran against expectations. If the oceans were very old, then their floors should be thick with sediment laid down over the millennia. An even more surprising discovery was geomagnetic reversals. Using equipment developed to detect submarines, scientists mapped the magnetic orientation of the rock that made up the ocean floors. To their surprise, they found that the magnetic orientation of the mineral magnetite changed across the oceans. When rock was in a liquid state, the particles in it were randomly oriented toward the Earth’s magnetic field, but once it started to solidify, the particles aligned along the magnetic lines of force, like millions of little compasses. Once the rock was solid, the orientation was frozen, pointing in one direction and unaffected by changes to the fields. The oceanic bands of rock made it clear that the fields had shifted and even changed places, with the magnetic north and south switching. These reversals were rapid and resulted in bands of rock with radically different magnetic orientation, which appeared to be laid out more or less symmetrically from the ocean trenches toward the continents. (See figure 11.2.)
11.2磁性海底图
11.2 MAGNETIC OCEAN FLOOR MAP
有了这些新信息,霍姆斯的想法得到了更多的关注,但在 20 世纪 50 年代,“漂流者”在很大程度上仍然是科学界的弃儿,无法在科学期刊上发表论文,而且经常冒着职业晋升的风险。约翰·图佐·威尔逊(1908-93 年)是一位有影响力的地质学家,国际大地测量学和地球物理学联合会主席(1957-60 年),他最初并不支持大陆漂移理论。然而,到 1962 年,哈里·赫斯(1906-69 年)等人发表了国际大地测量学和地球物理学联合会研究的新信息,为海底扩张提供了科学证据,使他改变了看法。对海底的深入了解,以及对中洋脊、与中洋脊平行的地磁异常以及大陆边缘附近的岛弧与海沟的关联等特征的发现,这表明对流确实可能在起作用。威尔逊 1965 年的论文“一种新的断层类型及其对大陆漂移的影响”帮助改变了地质学的方向。尽管“大陆漂移”一词最终被“板块构造”一词取代,因为它涵盖了更广泛的地质系统,但魏格纳的想法在许多方面得到了证实。
With this new information, Holmes’s idea received more attention, but “drifters” were still largely scientific pariahs in the 1950s, unable to publish papers in scientific journals and often risking career advancement. John Tuzo Wilson (1908–93), an influential geologist, IGY committee member, and president of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (1957–60), did not initially support the theory of continental drift. However, by 1962 new information from IGY research published by Harry Hess (1906–69) and others, which gave scientific evidence for the spreading of the ocean floor, convinced him otherwise. Greater understanding of the ocean floor and the discoveries of features such as mid-oceanic ridges, geomagnetic anomalies parallel to the mid-oceanic ridges, and the association of island arcs with oceanic trenches near the continental margins, suggested convection might indeed be at work. Wilson’s 1965 paper, “A New Class of Faults and Their Bearing on Continental Drift,” helped transform the direction of geology. Although the term “continental drift” was eventually replaced by the term “plate tectonics” because it encompassed a broader geological system, in many ways Wegener’s idea was vindicated.
大陆漂移的另一个证据来自太空。仔细检查 IGY 卫星轨道的变化,发现重力异常,这表明地球内部存在对流。这一发现是 IGY 研究的另一个领域的副产品。火箭,更重要的是,它们携带的仪器是研究高层大气和太空条件的核心。许多科学家希望将它们用作和平工具,而不是大规模杀伤性武器。詹姆斯·A·范艾伦 (1914-2006) 是卡内基研究所地磁学系的校友,曾在二战结束时使用过缴获的德国 V-2 火箭,他特别热衷于将科学卫星送入轨道。范艾伦的工作是美国首次成功对抗苏联人造卫星计划。
Another piece of evidence for continental drift came from space. Careful examination of the variation in the orbits of IGY satellites indicated gravitational anomalies, which suggested convection currents inside the Earth. This discovery was a by-product of another area of IGY research. Rockets and, more importantly, the instruments they carried were central to the study of the upper atmosphere and conditions in space. Many scientists wanted to use them as peaceful tools rather than weapons of mass destruction. James A. Van Allen (1914–2006), who was an alumnus of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution and who had worked with captured German V-2 rockets at the end of World War II, was particularly keen on getting scientific satellites into orbit. Van Allen’s work was the first American success to counter the Soviet Sputnik program.
冷战时期科学在解决全球问题方面最重要的应用之一是绿色革命。“绿色革命”一词最早由美国国际开发署署长威廉·高德(William Gaud,1907-77 年)于 1968 年使用,尽管科学工作自 20 世纪 40 年代以来一直在进行。该术语指的是利用科学原理和技术来提高农业产量,特别是在发展中国家。这是人们相信现代世界所有新出现的问题都可以用绿色革命来解决的一部分。农业革命的领军人物是微生物学家诺曼·博洛格(1914-2009)。1944 年,博洛格接受洛克菲勒基金会国际玉米和小麦改良中心的工作,前往墨西哥提高小麦产量。当时,墨西哥无法为其人口种植足够的小麦,这对于一个相对贫穷的国家来说是一个重大问题。
One of the most significant applications of science to global problems in the Cold War era was the Green Revolution. The term “Green Revolution” was first used in 1968 by William Gaud (1907–77), the director of the United States Agency for International Development, although the scientific work had been going on since the 1940s. The term referred to the use of scientific principles and technology to increase agricultural production, particularly in the developing world. This was part of a belief that all the emerging problems of the modern world could be solved by science and technology. The leading figure in this revolution in agriculture was Norman Borlaug (1914–2009), a microbiologist. In 1944 Borlaug took a job working for the Rockefeller Foundation’s International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center and went to Mexico to improve wheat production. At this time, Mexico was unable to grow enough wheat for its population, a major issue for a relatively poor nation.
博洛格面临的问题说起来简单,但解决起来却很难。为了提高作物产量,麦田必须使用氮肥。施肥的小麦产出更多谷物,但麦粒的重量使植株倒伏,导致植株受损并降低产量。博洛格的解决方案是将高产的美国小麦品种与日本的矮秆小麦进行杂交。到 1963 年,墨西哥 95% 的小麦都是博洛格的杂交品种,墨西哥已成为谷物的净出口国。
The problem that Borlaug faced was simple to state but difficult to solve. To increase crop yield, wheat fields had to be fertilized with nitrogen fertilizers. The fertilized wheat produced more grain, but the weight of the kernels made the plant fall over, ruining the plant and reducing the yield. Borlaug’s solution was to crossbreed a high-yield American wheat variety with a strong-stemmed dwarf wheat from Japan. By 1963, 95 per cent of Mexico’s wheat consisted of Borlaug’s hybrids and Mexico had become a net exporter of the grain.
由于他在墨西哥的成功,印度农业部邀请博洛格就如何提高粮食产量向他们提供建议。洛克菲勒基金会和墨西哥政府派博洛格和加拿大农业部的小麦专家罗伯特·格伦·安德森(1924-81)与印度官员会面,讨论如何提高产量。印度和该地区的其他国家正在经历低水平的饥荒,但人们对新技术存在抵制。1965 年,博洛格和安德森安排向印度和巴基斯坦发送近 500 吨杂交小麦种子,但两国爆发战争,导致该项目进展缓慢。为了防止饥荒(并鼓励印度与美国建立更紧密的联系),美国在 1966 年将其小麦产量的 20% 运往印度。具有讽刺意味的是,战争造成的饥荒战胜了当地对新耕作方法的抵制。与印度绿色革命之父曼科姆布·桑巴西万·斯瓦米纳坦 (1925-) 等科学家合作,基础杂交品种适应当地条件。斯瓦米纳坦曾在印度接受遗传学家培训,并于 1952 年至 1954 年在威斯康星大学担任博士后研究员。他曾在墨西哥项目工作,之后返回印度农业研究所,在那里他为开发南亚地区的小麦和水稻品种发挥了重要作用。到 1968 年,印度、巴基斯坦、土耳其、墨西哥和几个南美国家都在使用博洛格的农业系统。小麦产量几乎翻了一番,印度在 1974 年实现了粮食自给自足。
Because of his success in Mexico, the Indian Ministry of Agriculture invited Borlaug to advise them on ways to increase their grain production. The Rockefeller Foundation and the Mexican government sent Borlaug and the wheat specialist Robert Glenn Anderson (1924–81) from the Canadian Department of Agriculture to meet with Indian officials and discuss ways to increase production. India and other countries in the region were experiencing low-level famine, but there was resistance to the new techniques. In 1965 Borlaug and Anderson arranged to send almost 500 tons of hybrid wheat seed to India and Pakistan, but the outbreak of war between the two countries slowed the project. To prevent starvation (and to encourage India to have closer ties to the United States), the United States sent 20 per cent of its wheat production to India in 1966. Ironically, the starvation caused by the war overcame local resistance to the new method of farming. Working with scientists such as Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan (1925–), who is considered in India to be the father of the Green Revolution, the basic hybrids were adapted for regional conditions. Swaminathan had been trained as a geneticist in India and was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin from 1952 to 1954. He worked on the Mexican project before returning to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, where he was instrumental in developing the strains of wheat and rice for the South Asian region. By 1968 India, Pakistan, Turkey, Mexico, and several South American countries were using Borlaug’s agricultural system. Wheat production nearly doubled and India became self-sufficient in grain production in 1974.
1970 年,诺曼·博洛格因其在这一领域的工作而获得诺贝尔和平奖。他和与他一起工作的人的努力挽救了许多人的生命数百万人。博洛格对自己的工作感到自豪,但他也意识到,如果使用不当,他可能会制造一种马尔萨斯陷阱。在诺贝尔获奖感言中,他说:
In 1970 Norman Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in this area. His efforts and the efforts of those who worked with him have saved the lives of millions of people. Borlaug was proud of his work, but he was also aware that he could be creating a kind of Malthusian trap if it was not properly used. In his Nobel acceptance speech he said:
过去三年来,抗击饥饿的形势确实有所好转。但潮起潮落总是有规律的。我们现在可能正处于高潮,但如果我们自满而放松努力,潮落可能很快就会到来。因为我们面对的是两种对立的力量,即粮食生产的科学力量和人类生殖的生物力量……人类还掌握了有效和人道地降低人类生殖率的手段。他正在利用自己的力量来提高粮食生产的速度和数量。但他还没有充分利用自己降低人类生殖率的潜力。结果是,在某些地区,人口增长率超过了粮食产量的增长率。1
It is true that the tide of the battle against hunger has changed for the better during the past three years. But tides have a way of flowing and then ebbing again. We may be at high tide now, but ebb tide could soon set in if we become complacent and relax our efforts. For we are dealing with two opposing forces, the scientific power of food production and the biologic power of human reproduction.… Man also has acquired the means to reduce the rate of human reproduction effectively and humanely. He is using his powers for increasing the rate and amount of food production. But he is not yet using adequately his potential for decreasing the rate of human reproduction. The result is that the rate of population increase exceeds the rate of increase in food production in some areas.1
绿色革命与国际青年年一样,是科学家们为利用科学造福全人类而做出的国际努力。尽管农业变革的某些方面在冷战期间被用来为西方争取支持,但从长远来看,博洛格和他的支持者更关心的是人民而不是政治。现代批评家认为,绿色革命对美国农业企业的影响大于对采用绿色革命的国家的影响,单一耕作会带来严重的环境后果,包括荒野地区的消失和生物多样性的下降。另一方面,这场革命使许多发展中国家,尤其是亚洲国家实现了粮食安全和稳定。
The Green Revolution was, like the IGY, an international effort by scientists to use science for the benefit of all humanity. Although certain aspects of agricultural change were used to garner support for the West as part of the Cold War, in the long run Borlaug and his supporters were more interested in people than politics. Modern critics have suggested that the Green Revolution did more for US agribusiness than for the adopting countries, and that monoculture farming can have bad environmental consequences including the loss of wilderness areas and a decline in biodiversity. On the other hand, this revolution allowed many countries in the developing world and especially in Asia to achieve food security and stability.
当 IGY 计划专注于地球和太阳时,一些天文学家正在绘制一幅令人震惊的宇宙新图景。到人造卫星发射时,人们对这些科幻小说家渴望造访的恒星有了更多的了解。
While the IGY program focused on the Earth and the Sun, some astronomers were creating a startling new image of the universe. By the time Sputnik was launched, much more was known about those stars that science fiction writers yearned to visit.
天文学家发现宇宙在运动。虽然这不是一个新想法,但之前还没有开发出任何方法来观察宇宙的运动。由于难以计算恒星物体的距离,因此无法测量太阳系外的物体。1838 年,天文学家弗里德里希·威廉·贝塞尔 (Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel,1784-1846) 首次利用恒星视差测量了附近恒星的距离。通过测量从地球轨道一侧到另一侧的观察角度的微小变化(贝塞尔发现为 0.314 角秒),他计算出天鹅座 61 号恒星距离地球 10 光年。虽然这种方法适用于近距离恒星,但对更远的物体不起作用,因为遥远物体的光没有可测量的交叉角。
Astronomers had discovered that the universe was in motion. While this was not a new idea, no method had been developed earlier to observe the motion of objects outside the solar system, due to the difficulty of calculating the distance to stellar objects. In 1838 the astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784–1846) was the first to measure the distance to a nearby star using stellar parallax. By measuring the tiny variation in the angle of observation from one side of Earth’s orbit to the other (Bessel found 0.314 seconds of arc), he calculated that the star 61 Cygni was 10 light years from Earth. Although this method worked for close stars, it did not work for objects farther away since the light of distant objects had no measurable angle of intersection.
到本世纪初,已有 50 多万个恒星被绘制成地图。1917 年,乔治·埃勒里·海尔(1868-1938 年)监督在威尔逊山天文台安装了 2.5 米折射望远镜。这架望远镜以海尔的名字命名,一直是有史以来最大的望远镜,直到 1948 年在帕洛玛山建造了 5 米反射望远镜。1926 年,布鲁斯自行巡天开始通过比较相隔 25 年在同一空间区域拍摄的照相底片来追踪恒星的运动。恒星的运动和相对论促使比利时天文学家乔治·F·勒梅特(1894-1966 年)在 1927 年提出宇宙是由物质和能量的爆炸产生的,他称之为“宇宙蛋”。
By the turn of the century, more than 500,000 stellar objects had been mapped. In 1917 George Ellery Hale (1868–1938) oversaw the installation of the 2.5-meter refracting telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory. Named in Hale’s honor, it remained the largest telescope ever made until the building of the 5-meter reflecting telescope at Mount Palomar in 1948. In 1926 the Bruce Proper Motion Survey began to trace the motion of stars by comparing photographic plates of the same region of space taken 25 years apart. The motion of the stars and the theory of relativity led Belgian astronomer Georges F. Lemaître (1894–1966) to argue in 1927 that the universe was created from an explosion of matter and energy, which he called the “cosmic egg.”
1929 年,埃德温·鲍威尔·哈勃 (1889-1953) 利用威尔逊天文台的数据,应用基于多普勒效应2或光的红移的新方法,计算出仙女座星云的距离为 93 万光年。他还发现大多数星系都在远离地球和彼此。这符合勒梅特的想法,因为通过追溯星云的运动并将一切拉回到某个远古时期,似乎可以“倒转”宇宙历史。
Using data from the Wilson Observatory, in 1929 Edwin Powell Hubble (1889–1953) applied new methods based on the Doppler effect,2 or the red shift of light, to calculate the distance to the Andromeda nebula as 930,000 light years away. He also found that most galaxies were moving away from the Earth and from each other. This fit Lemaître’s idea, since it seemed possible to “rewind” cosmic history by tracing the movement of the nebulae backward and drawing everything together at some ancient time.
弗雷德·霍伊尔(Fred Hoyle,1915-2001)是当时最伟大的天文学家之一,他反对宇宙蛋理论,与赫尔曼·邦迪(Hermann Bondi,1919-2005)和托马斯·戈尔德(Thomas Gold,1920-2004)一起认为宇宙处于稳定状态。1948 年提出的稳定状态模型将宇宙描绘成均匀的存在,没有开始或结束,在任何地方(在大尺度上)和任何时候看起来都差不多。霍伊尔、邦迪和戈尔德通过论证物质是不断创造的来处理宇宙的明显膨胀。一些认为从无到有创造物质是一个奇怪的想法,但所需的数量非常少(大约是每年每立方光年几个原子的数量级),而且从哲学上来说,这并不比宇宙蛋的起源问题更令人不安。讽刺的是,正是霍伊尔创造了“大爆炸”一词,作为对竞争理论的贬义标签。
Fred Hoyle (1915–2001), one of the greatest astronomers of the era, objected to the cosmic egg theory, arguing along with Hermann Bondi (1919–2005) and Thomas Gold (1920–2004) that the universe was in a steady state. The Steady State model, presented in 1948, pictured the universe as uniform in existence, with no beginning or end, and looking much the same everywhere (on the large scale) and at every time. Hoyle, Bondi, and Gold dealt with the apparent expansion of the universe by arguing that matter was constantly created. Some considered the creation of matter from nothing to be an odd idea, but the amount required was very small (on the order of a few atoms per cubic light year per year) and it was no more philosophically unsettling than the question of the origin of the cosmic egg. Ironically, it was Hoyle who coined the term “Big Bang” as a derogatory label for the competing theory.
稳态说和大爆炸说支持者之间的争论非常激烈,而且经常是激烈的。支持大爆炸说的证据(尽管今天仍有少数稳态说支持者)来自一个意想不到的来源——来自太空的无线电波。1931 年,卡尔·詹斯基(Karl Jansky,1905-50 年)正在为贝尔电话实验室研究无线电干扰。他发现了三种自然发生的干扰:本地雷暴、远距离雷暴和一个未知但恒定的源,他最初认为这个源可能来自太阳。这是一个合理的想法,因为早在 1894 年,奥利弗·洛奇爵士(Sir Oliver Lodge,1851-1944 年)就声称太阳发射了无线电波,尽管他无法探测到它们。然而,经过一年的研究,詹斯基确定未知源实际上是银河系。我们的家乡星系正在发射无线电波!当詹斯基完成调查后,贝尔给他分配了其他研究,他从未跟进他的发现。他 44 岁时因心脏病去世,但在他的记忆中,能量通量或“无线电亮度”的单位被称为 Jansky ( Jy )。
The debate between Steady State and Big Bang supporters was heated and often acrimonious. The evidence that tipped the argument in favor of the Big Bang (although there are still a few Steady Staters today) came from an unexpected source – radio waves from space. In 1931 Karl Jansky (1905–50) was researching radio interference for Bell Telephone Laboratories. He found three types of naturally occurring interference: local thunderstorms, distant thunderstorms, and an unknown but constant source, which he initially thought might come from the Sun. This was a reasonable idea, since back in 1894 Sir Oliver Lodge (1851–1944) had claimed that the Sun emitted radio waves, although he had been unable to detect them. However, after a year of study Jansky determined that the unknown source was actually the Milky Way. Our home galaxy was emitting radio waves! When Jansky finished his investigation, Bell assigned him other research, and he never followed up on his discovery. He died of a heart attack at the age of 44, but in his memory the unit of energy flux, or “radio brightness,” is called a Jansky (Jy).
詹斯基的发现在很大程度上被忽视了,但无线电工程师格罗特·雷伯(Grote Reber,1911-2002)对来自太空的无线电波的想法很感兴趣,并于 1937 年建造了一个 9.4 米的抛物面天线,以捕捉这些辐射。他着手绘制天空的无线电地图。在詹斯基的偶然发现和雷伯的工作之间,射电天文学领域诞生了。由于人们对通过物理学观察极端事件(例如恒星内部)以及广义相对论与宇宙结构的关系感兴趣,第二次世界大战后,射电天文学得到了资金支持,剩余电子设备的库存也随之增加,这些设备通常作为廉价的军用剩余物资出售。1946 年,第一个大型射电望远镜装置——一个 66 米的抛物面天线——在英国的乔德雷尔班克建成。 (见图 11.3。)当马丁·赖尔(1918-84)发明第一台射电干涉仪时,射电天文学取得了飞跃。它本质上是一个由两个接收器连接在一起的系统,提供了更清晰的图像和有关射电源的更详细信息。随着简单的干涉仪和许多射电望远镜阵列连接在一起,射电天文学在解析光源方面变得和光学望远镜一样好。雷伯、赖尔和其他人开始绘制天空地图,随着只有通过无线电探测才能看到的事物被添加到数百年的光学观测中,他们创造了一幅更为复杂的图景。
Jansky’s discovery was largely ignored, but Grote Reber (1911–2002), a radio engineer, was intrigued with the idea of radio waves from space and built a 9.4-meter parabolic dish antenna in 1937 in order to capture these emissions. He set out to create a radio map of the heavens. Between Jansky’s serendipitous discovery and Reber’s work, the field of radio astronomy was born. Because of the interest in looking at extreme events through physics (the interior of stars, for example) and the relationship of general relativity to the structure of the universe, money for radio astronomy became available after World War II, as did stocks of leftover electronic equipment, often available as cheap military surplus. In 1946 the first major radio telescope installation – a 66 meter parabolic aerial – was built at Jodrell Bank in Britain. (See figure 11.3.) Radio astronomy took a leap forward when Martin Ryle (1918–84) introduced the first radio interferometer. Essentially a system of two receivers hooked together, it provided a much sharper image and more detailed information about radio sources. With simple interferometers and arrays of many radio telescopes linked together, radio astronomy became as good at resolving light sources as optical telescopes. Reber, Ryle, and others began mapping the heavens, creating a much more complex picture as things visible only by radio detection were added to centuries of optical observations.
11.3乔德雷尔班克望远镜
11.3 JODRELL BANK TELESCOPE
来源:Andrew Barker / Shutterstock.com。
Source: Andrew Barker / Shutterstock.com.
使射电天文学成为可能的技术进步也使进入太空(尤其是进入地球轨道)变得越来越有吸引力。然而,太空竞赛不仅仅是一场智力竞赛。它也是一场科学风格之间的斗争。人们很容易将寻找最有成效的研究风格与西方民主国家和苏联极权政权之间的政治斗争混为一谈,但无论政府结构如何,科学研究与国家要求之间的关系仍然很复杂。科学的成功并不取决于自由的民众,而是取决于在极权政府统治下,将发现转化为可供广大民众使用的产品通常比较慢。然而,无论是在民主政府还是极权政府统治下,被认为符合国家利益的研究都是由官僚机构开发和控制的,这些官僚机构甚至可能不了解其中涉及的科学,他们以达到的目标而不是发现来衡量成功或失败,并确保资金支配着研究进程。
The technical advances that made radio astronomy possible also made access to space, especially in local Earth orbit, increasingly attractive. The race to space, however, was more than an intellectual footrace. It was also a battle between scientific styles. It is easy to confuse the search for the most productive style of research with the political battle between the Western democracies and the totalitarian regime of the Soviet Union, but the relationship between scientific research and the demands of the state, regardless of the structure of government, remains complex. Scientific success does not depend on a free populace, but the translation of discovery into products for the larger population has usually been slower under totalitarian governments. Yet, under both democratic and totalitarian governments, research deemed to be in the national interest is developed and controlled by bureaucracies that may not even understand the science involved, that measure success or failure by objectives met rather than discoveries made, and that ensure that money rules the course of research.
导致人造卫星问世的火箭技术史,是专制君主和梦想家、技术官僚、技术人员、政客和研究人员的故事。虽然太空竞赛没有创造出科学研究的综合体系,但它是这种综合力量的最伟大例证。核武器的开发在许多方面都是研究和对“有用”最终产品的需求的更复杂的综合,但它被笼罩在秘密之中,并被描述为如此先进和深奥,只有天才才能接触到。相比之下,火箭竞赛是科学实力的公开展示,它导致了科学地位的重新定位,尤其是科学教育在工业化世界中的地位。
The story of rocketry that leads to Sputnik is one of despots and dreamers, technocrats, technicians, politicians, and researchers. While the race to space did not create the integrated system of scientific research, it is the greatest example of the power of such integration. The development of nuclear weapons was in many ways a more complex integration of research and the demands for a “useful” final product, but it was shrouded in secrecy and was presented as so advanced and esoteric that it was accessible only to geniuses. The rocket race was, in contrast, a very public demonstration of scientific prowess that led to a revision of the place of science, and especially scientific education, in the industrialized world.
第一批火箭出现于 1150 年左右,当时中国人使用火药来推动火箭。后来,火箭在 1232 年北京围城战中发展成为一种武器,并于 1380 年热那亚人和威尼斯人之间的基奥贾战役中首次在欧洲亮相。尽管小型火箭继续用于烟花和军事用途,但它们在很大程度上被大炮和火炮所掩盖。俄罗斯是这一总体趋势的例外。
The first rockets appeared around 1150 when the Chinese used gunpowder to propel them. They were later developed into a weapon at the siege of Beijing in 1232 and made their first appearance in Europe in 1380 at the battle of Chioggia between the Genoese and the Venetians. Although small rockets continued to be made for fireworks and military purposes, they were largely overshadowed by cannons and artillery. The exception to the general trend was in Russia.
1881 年,尼古拉·基巴尔奇奇(Nikolai Kibalchich,约 1853-81 年)制造了炸死沙皇亚历山大二世的炸弹。他在圣彼得堡技术学院的化学实验室中制造了这枚炸弹,该学院由亚历山大的父亲创立,旨在帮助推动俄罗斯进入科学和工业时代。被捕后,基巴尔奇奇在被处决前一直在设计火箭,包括设计火箭飞机和载客火箭。基巴尔奇奇并非个例;俄罗斯对火箭的兴趣由来已久。一百年前,Raketnoe Zavedenie(火箭企业)成立,旨在设计和制造火箭。俄罗斯军队的第一个导弹部队成立于 1827 年,1867 年,工程师康斯坦丁·康斯坦丁诺夫在圣彼得堡开设了一家火箭制造厂。
In 1881 Nikolai Kibalchich (c. 1853–81) built the bomb that killed Tsar Alexander II. He made it in the chemical laboratory of the St. Petersburg Technological Institute, founded by Alexander’s father to help propel Russia into the scientific and industrial age. After his arrest, Kibalchich spent the time before his execution designing rockets, including a design for a rocket plane and a passenger rocket. Kibalchich was not an aberration; Russian interest in rocketry was long-standing. One hundred years earlier the Raketnoe Zavedenie (Rocket Enterprise) was created to design and manufacture rockets. The first missile unit in the Russian army was formed in 1827, and in 1867 the engineer Konstantin Konstantinov opened a rocket-manufacturing plant in St. Petersburg.
亚历山大二世遇刺的同一年,自学成才的物理学家康斯坦丁·齐奥尔科夫斯基(1857-1935)向圣彼得堡的俄罗斯物理和化学学会提交了一篇论文,该论文涉及气体动力学理论和生物体力学。他被告知,他的想法已经得到了很好的认可科学家们对此并不知情,但他并没有气馁,而是继续追求自己的兴趣。他的主要兴趣是征服重力。整个 19 世纪 80 年代,他一直在思考在零重力下生活会是什么样子,并于 1903 年发表了关于轨道力学和火箭推进原理的数学论文《用反应装置探索宇宙空间》。他还绘制了液体推进剂火箭的草图,该火箭使用液氧和液氢作为燃料。(见图11.4。)
The same year that Alexander II was assassinated, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857–1935), a self-taught physicist, sent a paper to the Russian Society for Physics and Chemistry in St. Petersburg that dealt with the kinetic theory of gases and the mechanics of living organisms. He was told that his ideas were already well known to scientists, but rather than being discouraged he continued to pursue his interests. His driving passion was the conquest of gravity. Throughout the 1880s he contemplated what life would be like in zero gravity, and in 1903 he published the mathematical treatise “Exploration of Cosmic Space with Reactive Devices” on orbital mechanics and the principles of rocket propulsion. He also sketched a liquid propellant rocket, which used liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as fuel. (See figure 11.4.)
11.4液体燃料火箭
11.4 LIQUID FUEL ROCKET
插图基于康斯坦丁·齐奥尔科夫斯基 1903 年绘制的液体燃料火箭草图。
Illustration based on Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s 1903 sketch of a liquid fuel rocket.
齐奥尔科夫斯基并不是这一时期唯一一个致力于先进火箭理念的人。罗伯特·H·戈达德(1882-1945)在美国克拉克大学读书时,于 1909 年开始进行严肃的实验工作。在史密森学会的资助下,他最终发表了博士论文《一种达到极限高度的方法》。戈达德是一位执着而又独具匠心的发明家,但他也为人神秘而孤僻。1926 年,他搬到新墨西哥州罗斯威尔附近的一个牧场,以避开记者和其他火箭爱好者,并开展了液体燃料火箭的基础研究。虽然他获得了 200 多项专利,但他的工作当时鲜为人知。
Tsiolkovsky was not the only person working on advanced ideas in rocketry in this period. Robert H. Goddard (1882–1945) in the United States began serious experimental work in 1909 when he was a student at Clark University. He eventually published his PhD thesis, A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes, with financial help from the Smithsonian Institution. Goddard was a persistent and ingenious inventor, but he was also secretive and isolated. In 1926 he moved to a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico, to get away from reporters and other rocket enthusiasts and carried out foundational work on liquid-fuel rockets. While he was granted more than 200 patents, his work was little known at the time.
20 世纪 20 年代和 30 年代,公众开始对火箭产生兴趣。1930 年,传奇科幻小说编辑 Hugo Gernsback (1884–1967) 和 David Lasser (1902–86) 创立了美国行星际学会 (AIS)。AIS 与法国领先的火箭工程师 Robert Esnault-Pelterie (1881–1957) 以及德国业余火箭协会 Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VFR) 的成员保持通信,并为国内的液体燃料火箭工作提供资金。然而,尽管公众对火箭很感兴趣,但大多数机构和政府都很少关注火箭。在一定程度上,这种缺乏兴趣是由于动力航空的兴起,因为它为人类提供了飞行机会,因此更直接、更个人化,但也是因为飞入太空的梦想似乎既荒谬又毫无意义。两个政府是这种不感兴趣的例外:希特勒统治下的德国政府和斯大林统治下的苏联政府。
Through the 1920s and 1930s the general public became interested in rocketry. In 1930 the legendary science fiction editors Hugo Gernsback (1884–1967) and David Lasser (1902–86) founded the American Interplanetary Society (AIS). The AIS corresponded with Robert Esnault-Pelterie (1881–1957), the leading rocket engineer in France, and with members of the German amateur rocket society Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VFR), as well as financing liquid-fuel rocket work at home. Despite this popular interest, however, most institutions and governments paid little attention to rockets. To a certain extent, this lack of interest was due to the rise of powered aviation, which was more immediate and personal since it offered human flight, but it was also because dreams of flight into space seemed both preposterous and pointless. Two governments proved the exception to this disinterest: the German government under Hitler and the Soviet government under Stalin.
德国的故事更为人所知,但最终却不那么成功。20 世纪 20 年代,重组后的德国军队制定了下一场战争的战略。他们选择了一种机械化、高度机动的方法,使用飞机作为远程火炮的一种形式。这在重型火炮(最大射程约为 100 公里,但有效射程远低于此)和轰炸机(可以飞行数百公里攻击目标,但价格昂贵,需要大量的后勤控制)之间留下了战术空白。军事规划者开始考虑火箭,根据《凡尔赛条约》的条款,火箭并未被禁止,德国陆军的军械弹道部门被赋予了开发液体燃料火箭的任务,以填补火炮和空中力量之间的空白。实际工作落到了沃尔特·多恩伯格 (Walter Dornberger,1895-1950) 身上,他曾在夏洛滕堡技术学院学习弹道学。
The German story is better known but was ultimately less successful. In the 1920s the reorganized German army developed strategies for the next war. They chose a mechanized, highly mobile approach that used aircraft as a form of long-range artillery. This left a tactical gap between heavy artillery, with a maximum range of about 100 kilometers but an effective range much less than that, and bombers that could fly hundreds of kilometers to attack targets but were expensive and required a great deal of logistical control. The military planners began to consider rockets, which were not prohibited under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, and the Ordinance Ballistic Section of the German army was given the task of developing a liquid-fuel rocket to fill the gap between artillery and air power. The actual job fell to Walter Dornberger (1895–1950), who had studied ballistics at the School of Technology at Charlottenburg.
1929 年,多恩伯格参观了 VFR 火箭专家使用的“火箭港”,并结识了沃纳·冯·布劳恩 (1912-77)。他鼓励冯·布劳恩在柏林理工学院完成工程学理学学士学位。冯·布劳恩在攻读学位期间(1932 年)与当时领先的火箭科学家赫尔曼·奥伯特 (1894-1989) 合作,共同研究液体燃料火箭发动机的构造。奥伯特曾在 20 世纪 20 年代撰写过关于太空飞行物理学的文章,他是冯·布劳恩最初的灵感来源。1934 年,冯·布劳恩在柏林大学获得物理学学位。
In 1929 Dornberger visited the “rocketport” used by the rocketeers of the VFR and met Wernher von Braun (1912–77). He encouraged von Braun to complete his bachelor of science degree in engineering at the Berlin Institute of Technology. While earning this degree, which he finished in 1932, von Braun worked with Hermann Oberth (1894–1989), the leading rocket scientist of the day, on the construction of liquid-fuel rocket engines. Oberth, who had written on the physics of space flight in the 1920s, was von Braun’s original inspiration. In 1934 von Braun completed a degree in physics at the University of Berlin.
当时,多恩伯格是库默斯多夫西部研究站的负责人,但德国对火箭的兴趣正在减弱,因为其他军事技术(由已经存在的生产材料的行业支持)占据了中心地位。多恩伯格与冯·布劳恩于 1937 年在佩内明德建立了一个测试设施;该设施于 1939 年投入使用。他们的努力受到预算限制的限制,但在 1942 年,他们发射了第一枚 A-4 火箭。
By this time Dornberger was head of Research Station West at Kummersdorf, but German interest in rockets was waning as other aspects of military technology, backed by an industry that already existed to produce the materials, took center stage. With von Braun, Dornberger established a test facility at Peenemünde in 1937; it opened in 1939. Their efforts were limited by budget constraints, but in 1942 they launched the first A-4 rocket.
随着战争开始对德国不利,希特勒开始寻找能够从技术上解决军事失败问题的武器。V-1 火箭由带翼炸弹上的喷气发动机组成,速度非常慢,战斗机可以将其击落,但 A-4 作为弹道武器却势不可挡。它的最大射程约为 400 公里,有效载荷为 1,000 公斤,正是希特勒想要的那种超级武器。作为 V-2 或“复仇武器”投入批量生产后,其破坏力巨大。尽管到 1945 年,诺德豪森附近的米特尔沃克工厂每月由奴隶劳工组装约 300 枚 V-2 火箭,但它们对战争结果几乎没有任何战略或战术影响。火箭设计师对 A-4 的成功感到满意,但他们计划着更伟大的事情。A-9 将被A-11 是一种能够进行洲际飞行的两级火箭,而 A-11 是一种能够将飞行员送入太空的三级火箭。
As the war began to go against Germany, Hitler looked for weapons that would provide a technological fix to the problem of military failure. The V-1 rocket, which consisted of a jet engine on a winged bomb, was so slow it could be shot down by fighters, but the A-4 as a ballistic weapon was unstoppable. With a maximum range of about 400 kilometers and a payload of 1,000 kilograms, it was the kind of superweapon that Hitler wanted. Put into mass production as the V-2, or “Vengeance Weapon,” its destructive power was significant. Although by 1945 some 300 V-2 rockets were being assembled each month by slave labor at the Mittelwerk factory near Nordhausen, they had virtually no strategic or tactical effect on the outcome of the war. The rocket designers were pleased with the success of the A-4, but they were planning much greater things. The A-9 was to be a two-stage rocket capable of intercontinental flight, the A-11 a three-stage rocket capable of lifting a pilot into space.
当德国军队在东西两面夹击下溃败时,冯·布劳恩和“火箭队”开始考虑结束战争。如果他们留在佩内明德和诺德豪森,他们就会进入俄罗斯控制区,所以他们决定向美军投降。1945 年 2 月,冯·布劳恩和 500 多名火箭计划人员以及大量文件,穿过这个满目疮痍的国家向南行进。5 月初,他们与巴伐利亚的美军取得联系并投降。当美国指挥部意识到他们手中有什么样的战利品时,他们发起了一项特别任务,清理了米特尔沃克工厂的所有有用的东西,将设备、未使用的 V-2 火箭,以及最终的许多德国科学家和工程师送到了新墨西哥州的白沙试验场。
As the German military collapsed under attack from east and west, von Braun and the “Rocket Team” contemplated the end of the war. If they stayed at Peenemünde and Nordhausen, they would be in the Russian zone of control, so they decided to surrender to the American army. In February 1945 von Braun and more than 500 people from the rocket program, plus mountains of documents, traveled south across the devastated country. At the beginning of May they contacted and surrendered to the American military in Bavaria. When the American command realized what kind of prize they had in hand, they staged a special mission to clean out everything of use from the Mittelwerk factory, sending the equipment, unused V-2 rockets, and eventually many of the German scientists and engineers to the White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico.
美国人在苏联军队的眼皮底下抢走了大部分火箭计划。只有一位德国著名科学家赫尔穆特·格罗特鲁普(Helmut Gröttrup,1916-81 年)和一小群工人去了苏联,但格罗特鲁普的工作并没有直接为火箭发展的下一阶段做出贡献。当苏联专家抵达诺德豪森和佩内明德时,他们得出结论,德国的制造工作比苏联更先进,但理论上并不比苏联更复杂。直到 1945 年 8 月 6 日第一颗原子弹在广岛上空爆炸之前,德国火箭专家的损失似乎并没有构成威胁。美国突然加速火箭发展的影响改变了整个技术竞赛的局面。
The Americans scooped most of the rocket program out from under the noses of the advancing Russian forces. Only one major German scientist, Helmut Gröttrup (1916–81), and a small group of workers went to the Russians, but Gröttrup’s work did not contribute directly to the next stage of rocket development. When Russian experts arrived at Nordhausen and Peenemünde, they concluded that German manufacturing efforts were more advanced but not more theoretically sophisticated than the Russian. The loss of the German rocket specialists did not appear to pose a risk until the first atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The implications of a sudden boost to rocket development by the United States changed the whole complexion of the technological race.
苏联的火箭发展使整个科学与国家关系问题凸显出来。正如早期的沙皇希望通过吸引精选的工业家和建立科学协会将俄罗斯推向工业时代一样,苏联政权希望利用火箭和航天帮助苏联社会在科学技术领域占据主导地位。火箭与推翻俄罗斯君主制的革命者的意识形态有着特殊的契合。亚历山大·波格丹诺夫 (1873-1928) 的畅销小说《红星》 (1908) 于 1917 年重印,将共产主义意识形态和航天与火星人创造的工人天堂联系起来。列宁本人也曾主张促进科学技术的发展并对伟大的科学家给予政治宽容,因为他认识到第一次世界大战的一个教训:拥有最先进技术的一方将获胜。
Rocket development in the Soviet Union brings to the fore the whole issue of the relationship between science and the state. Just as tsars of an earlier era had hoped to catapult Russia into the industrial age by luring selected industrialists and founding scientific societies, the Soviet regime hoped to use rocketry and space flight to help propel Soviet society into a leading role in science and technology. There was a particular match between rocketry and the ideology of the revolutionaries who toppled the Russian monarchy. Alexander Bogdanov’s (1873–1928) popular novel Red Star (1908), reprinted in 1917, linked communist ideology and space flight with a workers’ paradise created by Martians. Lenin himself had argued for the promotion of science and technology and political tolerance for great scientists because he recognized one of the lessons of World War I: the side with the best technology wins.
苏联政府建立了新的研究机构,虽然许多机构都存在的时间很短,但人们对火箭的兴趣依然浓厚。1924 年,中央火箭问题研究局 (TSBIRP) 成立,以协调研究并关注火箭的军事发展。同年还成立了一个私人团体,即全苏行星际通信研究学会 (OIMS);它与美国的 AIS 和德国的 VFR 平行。1927 年,TSBIRP 和 OIMS 在莫斯科主办了苏联国际火箭技术展览会。
The Soviet government created new research institutions, and while many were short-lived, interest in rocketry remained strong. In 1924 the Central Bureau for the Study of the Problems of Rockets (TSBIRP) was created to coordinate research and focus attention on the military development of rockets. A private group also formed that year, the All-Union Society for the Study of Interplanetary Communications (OIMS); it was a parallel to the AIS in America and the VFR in Germany. In 1927 TSBIRP and OIMS hosted the Soviet International Exhibition of Rocket Technology in Moscow.
斯大林上台后,他对独立研究的容忍度大大降低,清洗了许多科学家和工程师,将他们关进监狱、流放到古拉格,甚至处以死刑。与此同时,他准备在某些领域支持科学技术。科学院扩大了规模,预算从 1927 年的 300 万卢布增加到 1940 年的 1.75 亿卢布。技术学校的入学人数也大幅增加。斯大林建立了监狱设计局系统,以利用被监禁的科学家和工程师的才能。谢尔盖·P·科罗廖夫 (1906-66) 就是这样一位科学家,他毕业于基辅理工学院,但被监禁并被送往最恶劣的古拉格集中营之一科尔米亚金矿工作。科罗廖夫被伟大的航空设计师谢尔盖·图波列夫(Sergei Tupolev)所救,图波列夫本人也是一名囚犯,他安排将科罗廖夫转移到 TSKB-39 sharashka,那里挤满了航空专家,他们即使在恶劣的条件下也坚持工作。与德国的战争使大部分工作戛然而止;然而,战俘营囚犯之一格奥尔基·兰格马克(Georgy Langemak,1889-1938 年)发明了一种军用火箭“喀秋莎”,由卡车上的多管发射器发射。
When Stalin came to power, he was far less tolerant of independent research and purged many scientists and engineers, sending them to jail, exile in the gulags, or death. At the same time he was prepared to support science and technology in certain areas. The Academy of Sciences was expanded, and its budget rose from 3 million rubles in 1927 to 175 million in 1940. Enrollment in technical schools also rose dramatically. Stalin set up a system of sharashkas (prison design bureaus) to utilize the talent of the jailed scientists and engineers. One such scientist was Sergei P. Korolev (1906–66), who graduated from the Kiev Polytechnic Institute but was jailed and sent to work in the Kolmya gold mines, one of the worst of the gulags. Korolev was saved by the great aviation designer Sergei Tupolev, himself a prisoner, who arranged for him to be transferred to TSKB-39 sharashka, which was filled with aviation specialists who continued their work, even under appalling conditions. The war with Germany put an abrupt halt to most of this work; however, one of the prison camp inmates, Georgy Langemak (1889–1938), created a militarily useful rocket, the Katyusha, which was fired by multiple launchers carried on trucks.
战后,苏联将火箭梦想变为现实的努力开始取得成果,但直到 1953 年斯大林去世后,工作才开始加速。1954 年,苏联科学院院长 AN Nesmeianov (1899-1969) 宣布将火箭发射到月球或将卫星送入轨道是可行的。科学院成立了一个高级行星际通信委员会,这表明科罗廖夫对卫星发射项目和洲际弹道导弹 (ICBM) 的科学基础给予了大力支持。科罗廖夫当时在政府更好的条件下从事远程导弹的研制,1953 年,他被指示将注意力转向洲际弹道导弹,同年他成为苏联科学院通讯院士。到 1955 年,秋拉塔姆有了一个新的测试设施,火箭试射几乎成了例行公事。该项目的希望寄托在科罗廖夫的 R-7 上,这是一种短小但巨大的火箭,使用煤油和液氧作为燃料推进剂。它结合了 20 个火箭发动机,可产生超过 50 万公斤的推力。
After the war Soviet efforts to turn the dreams of rocketry into reality began to bear fruit, but it was not until after Stalin’s death in 1953 that work began to accelerate. In 1954 A.N. Nesmeianov (1899–1969), president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, declared that it was feasible to send a rocket to the Moon or to place satellites in orbit. The Academy created a high-level Commission for Interplanetary Communications, which signaled significant support for the project of satellite launches and for the scientific foundation for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Korolev, now working on long-range missiles under better conditions for the government, was directed to turn his attention to ICBMs in 1953, the same year he became a Corresponding Member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. By 1955 there was a new test facility at Tyuratam, and test firing of rockets was almost routine. The hopes of the project lay with Korolev’s R-7, a stubby but massive rocket that used kerosene and liquid oxygen as the propellant. It combined 20 rocket engines in clusters and produced more than a half-million kilograms of thrust.
第一次发射失败,但 1957 年 8 月 3 日发射的第二枚火箭从发射场飞向堪察加半岛附近的太平洋。10 月 4 日,人造卫星进入预定轨道。赫鲁晓夫总理向团队表示祝贺,并在随后几天开始宣传他们的成功。
The first launch failed, but a second rocket launched on August 3, 1957, traveled from the launch site to land in the Pacific Ocean off the Kamchatka Peninsula. On October 4, Sputnik was put into orbit. Premier Khrushchev congratulated the team and in the following days began a propaganda campaign based on their success.
第一颗人造卫星的发射对西方来说并不完全是意外;事实上,莫斯科已经宣布了洲际弹道导弹的发射,甚至在 10 月 1 日公布了 Sputnik 的广播频率。然而,西方许多人,尤其是美国火箭计划的参与者,都感到震惊。苏联的成功和美国努力的分散状态都凸显了美国研究的一个基本问题。
The launch of the first artificial satellite was not a complete surprise to the West; in fact, Moscow had announced the ICBM launch and even made public on October 1 the frequency on which Sputnik would broadcast. Yet many in the West, particularly in the American rocket programs, were startled. Both the Soviet success and the fragmented state of American efforts highlighted a basic problem with American research.
战争期间,OSRD 协调了民用研究工作,并成为联邦资金的渠道,但战争结束后,这些资金就消失了。OSRD 曾负责监督一系列战时项目的重要工作,但当时正面临关闭的危险。
During the war, the OSRD had coordinated civilian research efforts and been the conduit for federal funding, which ended with the war. The OSRD, which had overseen significant work on a range of wartime projects, was in danger of being closed down.
万尼瓦尔·布什 (Vannevar Bush) 是 ORSD 的负责人之一,他说服罗斯福总统动员美国民间科学家参与战争工作,他希望战后以某种形式继续该组织。虽然 OSRD 的和平版本似乎是可取的,但它被认为是违宪的,因为它需要联邦资金,而不受民选代表的控制。出于这个原因,许多提议成立研究组织的法案都失败了。
Vannevar Bush, one of the heads of the ORSD instrumental in persuading President Roosevelt to mobilize American civilian scientists for war work in the first place, wanted to continue the organization in some form after the war. Although a peacetime version of the OSRD seemed desirable, it was considered to be unconstitutional since it required federal funding not controlled by elected representatives. For this reason, a number of bills proposing the establishment of a research organization failed.
军方的一项建议促成了国家安全研究委员会的成立。但该委员会并未受到欢迎。民间科学家担心该委员会过于容易受到军方和承包商的干涉,而许多政客和官僚则认为,如果没有总统或国会的监督,该组织将过于强大。该委员会于 1946 年解散。尽管几乎所有相关方——行政部门、国会、科学家及其大学以及军方——都对继续研究感兴趣,但他们无法决定战后的形式。科学家希望联邦政府提供资金,且几乎没有任何附加条件,而政府则依法运作控制资金,并倾向于高水平的监督。这使得研究人员没有国家组织,大规模研究资金落入军方手中。到 1950 年,联邦研究资金的 60% 以上来自军方。
A recommendation from the military led to the creation of the Research Board for National Security. It was not well received. Civilian scientists feared it was too open to interference from the military and contractors, while many politicians and bureaucrats felt that it would be too powerful an organization to operate without the oversight of the president or Congress. It was terminated in 1946. While virtually all the parties involved – the executive branch, Congress, the scientists and their universities, and the military – were interested in continued research, they could not decide on a postwar format. Scientists wanted federal money with few or no strings attached, while the government by law controlled funding and by preference wanted a high level of oversight. This left researchers with no national organization, and large-scale research funding fell to the military. By 1950 more than 60 per cent of all federal money for research came from the military.
在这段研究政策混乱的时期,美国的火箭计划(或者更准确地说,是各种计划)发展缓慢。1947 年,国会重组军队,成立了国防部,主要的导弹研究工作由陆军和空军分担。冯·布劳恩所在的陆军负责战术导弹,而空军负责战略导弹计划。但空军由飞行员组成,自然对飞机比导弹更感兴趣,因此专注于远程轰炸机和战斗机的研发。
The American rocket program – or more accurately, programs – grew slowly during this period of muddled research policy. When Congress restructured the military in 1947, creating a single Department of Defense, major missile research was divided between the army and the air force. The army, for whom von Braun was working, had control of tactical missiles, while the air force worked on strategic missile programs. But the air force, being composed of pilots, was naturally more interested in aircraft than missiles and concentrated on the development of long-range bombers and fighter planes.
1952 年,德怀特·艾森豪威尔当选总统,他希望控制联邦预算不断上涨的成本,并使美国远离“小规模”战争,例如越南为争取法国殖民统治而展开的斗争。联邦预算的 57% 以上用于军事,而对更大、更强大武器的军事需求持续攀升。冷战期间很难限制军事开支。由于美国无法或不愿匹敌苏联地面部队的规模,其总体政策是利用空中力量和技术优势来对抗苏联的人数。这不仅意味着配备核武器的轰炸机,还意味着导弹。随着中程弹道导弹 (IRBM) 和洲际弹道导弹日益成为研发目标,不同军种之间的竞争催生了一系列不同的导弹,每种导弹都具有不同的能力,并由竞争组织倡导。陆军的红石(V-2 的直系后代)和朱庇特火箭以及空军的阿特拉斯、泰坦和雷神火箭都匆忙投入开发。虽然这些火箭被用于太空竞赛,但实际上是为了取代民兵和北极星导弹等武器而设计的。
When Dwight Eisenhower was elected president in 1952, he wanted to combat the rising cost of the federal budget and keep the United States out of “brush fire” wars, such as the struggle in Vietnam over French colonial rule. More than 57 per cent of the federal budget was going to the military, and military demands for bigger and more powerful weapons continued to climb. It was hard to limit military spending during the Cold War. Because the United States could not or would not match the size of Soviet ground forces, its general policy was to use air power and technical superiority to counter Soviet numbers. This meant more than bombers with nuclear weapons; it meant missiles. As intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) and ICBMs increasingly became the objective of research and development, a competition between the different branches of the military gave rise to a series of different missiles, each with different capabilities and championed by competing organizations. The army’s Redstone (a direct descendant of the V-2) and Jupiter rockets as well as the air force’s Atlas, Titan, and Thor rockets were all rushed into development. Although they were used in the race to space, these rockets were actually designed to replace weapons such as the Minuteman and the Polaris missiles.
“民用”太空计划“先锋计划”(实际上由海军研究实验室负责)是美国太空竞赛的代言人。该计划进展不顺利,因为许多科学家和工程师被其他项目所吸引,尤其是核研究和弹道导弹开发。该计划被军方视为二流项目,对资金构成威胁,还受到技术问题的困扰。当其资金需求在 1956 年从 2000 万美元上升到 6300 万美元时,它似乎是一个失控的项目。
The “civilian” space program, Project Vanguard (actually run by the Naval Research Laboratory), was the public face of the American race to space. It did not fare well, as many scientists and engineers were absorbed by other projects, particularly in nuclear research and ballistic missile development. Regarded as a second-class project by the military and a threat to funding, it was also plagued by technical problems. When its funding requirements rose from $20 million to $63 million in 1956, it appeared to be a project out of control.
尽管存在所有这些问题,当 R-7 将 Sputnik 1 送入轨道时,美国在发展方面并没有落后于苏联,而且在制导、小型化和武器制造方面处于领先地位。JPL 和陆军弹道导弹局的一项速成计划在 84 天内建造了 Explorer 1,并于 1958 年 1 月 31 日发射。紧随其后的是 1958 年 3 月 17 日的 Vanguard 1。军事导弹计划取得了成功,尽管分工限制了他们的成就,使其局限于某些特定目标。这些都不重要,然而,人造卫星的发射意味着美国的努力看起来是次要的,许多主流媒体如《生活》杂志都持这种观点。随后,全国上下一片哗然,人们纷纷指责美国科学的失败。艾森豪威尔总统被迫面对一个政治困境。美国是否应该像苏联那样将其科学努力集体化,投入更多的联邦资源用于军事开支,以明显超越苏联?苏联是如何做到的这么短时间能取得这么大的成就?美国的教育是不是出了问题?
Despite all these problems, when the R-7 sent Sputnik 1 into orbit, the United States was not significantly behind the Soviet Union in development and was ahead in guidance, miniaturization, and weapon building. A crash program by the JPL and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency built Explorer 1 in 84 days and launched it on January 31, 1958. It was followed by Vanguard 1 on March 17, 1958. The military missile programs were successful, although the division of labor limited their achievements to certain specific goals. None of that mattered, however. The launch of Sputnik meant that American efforts looked second-best, the line taken by many leading media outlets such as Life magazine. A national outcry followed, and blame for the perceived failure of American science was cast far and wide. President Eisenhower was forced to confront a political dilemma. Should the United States collectivize its scientific effort as the Soviet Union had done and commit even more federal resources to military spending in a visible effort to surpass the Soviets? How had the Soviets managed to achieve so much in such a short time? Was there a problem with American education?
人们对这个问题进行了深刻的反思。虽然自第一次世界大战以来,科学和工程培训已经大大增加,但许多人,如《生活》杂志的编辑和范尼瓦尔·布什,都希望看到教育支出大幅增加。这个问题在政治上很敏感,因为教育是州政府的责任,因此不在联邦政府的管辖范围内。艾森豪威尔既不愿意投入大笔资金,也不愿意被视为践踏州政府的权利。1958 年,国会颁布了《国防教育法案》,作为那些不希望联邦政府在教育上花钱的人和那些希望大幅增加教育开支的人之间的妥协。该法案批准在四年内支出约 10 亿美元。它为经济困难的学生设立了 2.95 亿美元的贷款基金,并拨款 2.8 亿美元的配套联邦拨款,旨在购买科学、数学和语言培训设备。另外还有 6000 万美元的基金,用于为与国防相关的领域提供 5,500 个研究生奖学金。
There was much soul-searching about this problem. While science and engineering training had vastly increased since World War I, many people, such as the editors of Life and Vannevar Bush, wanted to see a significant increase in spending on education. The problem was politically sensitive because education was a state responsibility and therefore outside the purview of the federal government. Eisenhower was reluctant both to commit large sums of money and to be seen to trample on state rights. In 1958 Congress enacted the National Defense Education Act as a compromise between those who wanted no federal spending on education and those who wanted a massive increase. The bill authorized an expenditure of about $1 billion over four years. It created a $295 million loan fund for students in financial need and allocated $280 million of matching federal grants aimed at purchasing equipment for science, mathematics, and language training. There was an additional $60 million fund for 5,500 graduate fellowships in areas related to national defense.
1958 年 1 月 31 日,詹姆斯·范艾伦及其团队成功发射了探索者号,这表明美国的努力并不落后于苏联。范艾伦的卫星项目始于 1955 年,是 IGY 辐射研究的一部分。尽管这颗美国卫星比 Sputnik 1 或 Sputnik 2 小得多,重量只有 14 公斤,但它仍然确立了美国发射卫星的能力。作为一种科学研究工具而非国家安全工具,其仪器包中包含一个辐射探测器,它证明了地球上空存在辐射带。范艾伦辐射带以其发现者的名字命名,范围从 650 公里到 65,000 公里,沿地球磁场循环。(见图11.5。)探索者号既是科学上的成功,也是政治上的声明,但它缺乏首创地位。
When James Van Allen and his team successfully launched Explorer on January 31, 1958, they demonstrated that American efforts were not so far behind the Soviet’s. Van Allen’s satellite project began back in 1955 as part of the IGY research on radiation. Although the American satellite was far smaller than either Sputnik 1 or Sputnik 2, weighing only 14 kilograms, it nonetheless established the American capability to orbit satellites. As a tool for scientific research rather than for national security, its instrument package contained a radiation detector that demonstrated the existence of bands of radiation above the Earth. Named after their discoverer, the Van Allen radiation belts range from 650 kilometers to 65,000 kilometers and circulate along the Earth’s magnetic field. (See figure 11.5.) Explorer was both a scientific success and a political statement, but it lacked the status of being first.
11.5范艾伦皮带
11.5 VAN ALLEN BELTS
范艾伦带在地球周围形成一个保护性电磁场。
The Van Allen belts form a protective electromagnetic field around the Earth.
尽管“探险者”号成功进入太空,并且 1958 年成功发射了“阿特拉斯”导弹,但许多美国人仍然担心美国和苏联在洲际弹道导弹研发方面的技术差距。导弹让远程轰炸机变得过时,美国曾经享有的空中优势也随之消失。记者约瑟夫·阿尔索普(1910-89)发表文章称,到 1963 年,苏联将拥有 2,000 枚洲际弹道导弹,而美国军方计划部署的洲际弹道导弹只有 130 枚,这进一步激化了这一问题。美国中央情报局 (CIA) 出于各种原因也预测到 1963 年将出现巨大的“导弹差距”,尽管证据很少。(实际上,到 1961 年,苏联只部署了 35 枚洲际弹道导弹。)艾森豪威尔被迫增加支出,包括为中央情报局指导下的高级研究计划局 (ARPA) 开发的间谍卫星计划拨款 1.86 亿美元。
Despite Explorer getting into space and the successful launch in 1958 of the Atlas missile, many Americans were concerned about the technological gap between the United States and the Soviet Union in the development of ICBMs. Missiles had made long-range bombers obsolete, so the air superiority the United States had enjoyed now disappeared. The issue was further inflamed when journalist Joseph Alsop (1910–89) published articles claiming that by 1963 the Soviet Union would have 2,000 operational ICBMs compared to only 130 planned by the American military. The American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), for various reasons, also predicted a large “missile gap” by 1963, despite little evidence. (In actuality, by 1961 the Soviet Union had deployed only 35 ICBMs.) Eisenhower was forced to increase spending, including $186 million for a spy satellite program being developed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) under the direction of the CIA.
虽然艾森豪威尔确信美国的军事力量最终会超越苏联,但秘密导弹计划并没有平息公众的担忧。美国需要的是一个超越苏联的大型项目。这样的项目必须满足三个要求:它必须让美国在太空领域处于领先地位,它必须确立美国科学和科学组织的优势,它必须能够激起公众的兴趣。这场竞赛不仅是一场技术竞赛,更是一场争夺国际声望的斗争。
While Eisenhower was confident that American military efforts would eventually overtake Soviet production, secret missile programs did little to quell public concern. What the United States needed was a major project to surpass the Soviet effort. Such a project had to fulfill three requirements: it had to put the United States in the lead in space, it had to establish the superiority of American science and scientific organization, and it had to be something that could excite the public. The race was not just a technological race but a fight for international prestige.
第一步是艾森豪威尔于 1958 年 10 月 1 日创建 NASA。NASA 将国家航空咨询委员会(拥有 8,000 名员工,预算为 1 亿美元)与兰利航空实验室、艾姆斯航空实验室和刘易斯飞行推进实验室整合在一起。NASA 随后还包括海军研究实验室(先锋计划所在地)的空间科学小组、加州理工学院为陆军运营的喷气推进实验室和陆军弹道导弹局(沃纳·冯·布劳恩及其团队所在的中心)。首任主任是 T. 基思·格伦南 (1905-95),他是一名电气工程师。战争期间,他曾在哥伦比亚大学战争研究部工作,后来在美国海军水下声音实验室工作。当他被选为主任时,他辞去了凯斯理工学院院长的职务。在任期间,他将几乎所有非军事太空研究和开发都整合到了 NASA 旗下。
The first step was Eisenhower’s creation of NASA on October 1, 1958. It brought together the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (with 8,000 employees and a budget of $100 million) with the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, and the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory. It went on to include the space science group at the Naval Research Laboratory (home of Project Vanguard), the JPL run by Caltech for the army, and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, the center where Wernher von Braun and his team were located. The first director was T. Keith Glennan (1905–95), who was trained as an electrical engineer. He had worked at the Columbia University Division of War Research and later at the American Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory during the war. When he was chosen to be director, he took a leave from his job as president of Case Institute of Technology. During his term, he consolidated almost all nonmilitary space research and development under the NASA umbrella.
全国对人造卫星的强烈抗议导致 NASA 内部出现了一种奇怪的军事和非军事活动混合体。其存在的原因之一是进行具有军事意义的研究,但不受现有军方任何部门的控制。为此,国会成立了两个新的常设委员会,即参议院航空航天科学委员会和众议院科学和航空委员会。这些委员会努力解决复杂的民事和军事关系和目标问题、与其他国家太空计划的合作程度和方法问题,以及最重要的资金问题。
The national outcry over Sputnik had led to the creation of a strange hybrid of military and nonmilitary activity in NASA. One of its reasons for existing was to do research of military significance but not under the control of any branch of the existing military. To go along with it, Congress created two new standing committees, the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences and the House Committee on Science and Aeronautics. These committees wrestled with the complex problems of civilian-military relations and objectives, the degree and method of cooperation with space programs in other countries, and, most of all, the money.
1959 年,苏联再次加大赌注,宣布启动 Lunik 系列实验。尽管早期发射火箭登月的尝试失败了,但科罗廖夫和他的团队最终成功制造出一枚推力足以摆脱地球引力的火箭。月球 1 号瞄准月球,但未击中目标,最终进入绕太阳轨道。苏联媒体以出色的宣传风格将这次发射誉为圆满成功,称其为第一颗人造行星,并将其重新命名为Mechta(梦想)。9 月 14 日,月球 2 号抵达月球,而月球 3 号从月球后方经过,拍摄了月球背面的第一张照片,由于月球背面的自转与绕地球轨道一致,因此从未被人看到过。
In 1959 the Soviet Union upped the ante once more with the announcement of its Lunik series of experiments. Although some early attempts to send a rocket to the Moon had failed, Korolev and his team finally succeeded in producing a rocket with enough thrust to escape the Earth’s gravity. Luna 1 was aimed at the Moon but missed the target and eventually went into orbit around the Sun. In good propaganda style, the Soviet press hailed the launch as a complete success as the first artificial planet and renamed it Mechta (Dream). Luna 2 reached the Moon on September 14, while Luna 3 passed behind it and took the first photograph of the far side, which, because its rotation matches its orbit around the Earth, had never been seen.
美国的反应是冯·布劳恩的先驱者 4 号,它于 1959 年 7 月 16 日发射。这次努力充其量只是部分成功。火箭确实升空并获得了足够的速度以逃离地球,但制导问题导致它偏离了轨道,与月球相差 60,000 公里!虽然这在天文学上不算什么大错误,但对冯·布劳恩和他的团队来说却是一件令人尴尬的事。
The American response was von Braun’s Pioneer 4, which was launched July 16, 1959. The effort was at best a partial success. The rocket did lift off and gained sufficient velocity to escape the Earth, but guidance problems caused it to go off course and miss the Moon by 60,000 kilometers! While this was not a huge error in astronomical terms, it was an embarrassment for von Braun and his team.
1960 年,约翰·F·肯尼迪击败理查德·尼克松当选总统。43 岁的他成为有史以来最年轻的当选总统,也是第一位利用电视影响力来竞选的总统。1961 年 5 月 25 日,他在国会发表演讲时宣称,“是时候开展一项伟大的新美国事业了——是时候让这个国家在太空事业中发挥明显领导作用了,这在许多方面可能掌握着我们在地球上的未来的关键。” 3这项事业是将人类送上月球并安全带回地球。这不会便宜。早期估计的登月计划成本为 70 亿美元。当阿波罗计划于 1973 年结束时,它已经花费了近 200 亿美元,而 NASA 总共花费了 566 亿美元。
In 1960 John F. Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon to become president. At 43, he was the youngest president ever elected and the first to exploit the power of television for electoral purposes. On May 25, 1961, in a speech to Congress, he declared that it was “time for a great new American enterprise – time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth.”3 That enterprise was to send a man to the Moon and bring him home safely. It would not be cheap. An early estimate for the cost of the Moon project was $7 billion. When the Apollo program ended in 1973, it had cost almost $20 billion out of a total of $56.6 billion spent on NASA.
肯尼迪总统需要大众的支持才能完成如此重大的事业,而事实上,登月竞赛的很大一部分意义就在于它能获得大众的关注和认可。肯尼迪在 1961 年发表宣言时,不仅是在向国会发表讲话,而且是在向整个国家发表讲话。他的讲话被录制下来,并在全国范围内播出。与早期相比,二十世纪下半叶的国家和国际政治的一个显著区别是,它们被传播和传送给广大听众。通过希特勒的集会演讲、丘吉尔的战时讲话和肯尼迪的美国意志宣言,无线电广播已成为政府活动的重要组成部分。无线电通信在 20 世纪 40 年代和 50 年代初经历了重大改进,但在肯尼迪的大众民主成为可能之前,需要解决长距离传输的问题。通信卫星因火箭科学的发展而成为可能,为这个问题提供了一个诱人的解决方案。早在 1945 年,阿瑟·克拉克 (1917–2008) 就提出了地球同步通信卫星的想法。他在《无线世界》杂志上发表的论文“地外中继”认为,一颗位于地球表面约 35,900 公里处的卫星可以拥有一条轨道,使其在地球表面的某个点上保持静止,从而使其成为一种非常有用的通信链路。
President Kennedy needed mass support for such a major undertaking, and, indeed, much of the point of the race to the Moon was the mass exposure and approval it would garner. When he made his 1961 declaration, Kennedy was speaking not only to Congress but to the whole nation. His words were recorded and broadcast across the country. One of the significant differences about national and international politics in the second half of the twentieth century as compared to earlier eras was that they were propagated and transmitted to a huge audience. Radio broadcasts had become a key component of government activity through Hitler’s rally speeches, Churchill’s wartime messages, and Kennedy’s declaration of American will. Radio communication had undergone significant improvement through the 1940s and early 1950s, but the problem of long-distance transmission needed to be solved before Kennedy’s mass democracy became a possibility. Communication satellites, made possible by the developing science of rocketry, offered a tantalizing solution to this problem. As early as 1945 Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) proposed the idea of geosynchronous communications satellites. His paper, “Extra Terrestrial Relays” in Wireless World, argued that a satellite placed at about 35,900 kilometers above the surface of the Earth could have an orbit that kept it stationary over a point on the surface, making it a very useful communications link.
军事侦察卫星的提议早在 1950 年就已提出,但卫星飞越外国的成本和国际合法性问题引起了严重担忧。随着冷战期间对信息的需求不断增加,U-2 侦察机应运而生,并于 1956 年 6 月开始飞越苏联领土。1957 年,一架 U-2 侦察机返回,带回了秋拉塔姆发射设施的照片。卫星用于通信和观察的理论突然变成了现实。
Proposals for military reconnaissance satellites were made as early as 1950, but the cost and problem of the international legality of satellites traveling over foreign countries raised serious concerns. As the demand for information rose steadily during the Cold War, the U-2 spy plane was developed and began overflights of Soviet territory in June 1956. In 1957 a U-2 returned with photographs of the Tyuratam launch facility. The theory of satellites for communication and observation had suddenly become a reality.
当世界领导人和肥皂制造商的讲话通过广播传播时,那个时代的许多重大事件也通过电视转播,通常是从全球现场直播。随着冷战和太空竞赛的到来,电视在战后时代成熟,这是将科学物品转变为普通设备的伟大例子之一。每台电视都是现代科学的缩影,代表着研究给我们带来的意想不到的产品之一。就像早期的印刷术发明,以及随后的电报和报纸的交汇一样,电视被用来介绍许多现代科学产品。
While the words of world leaders and soap manufacturers were being broadcast by radio, many major events of the era were televised, often transmitted live from around the globe. In tandem with the Cold War and the race for space, television came of age in the postwar era, one of the great examples of the transformation of a scientific object into a commonplace device. Each television is a microcosm of modern science and represents one of the unexpected products that research has given us. Like the earlier invention of printing, then of the intersection of telegraphy and the newspaper, television has been used to introduce many of the products of modern science.
电视并非由一位发明者发明,而是有数百人参与。通过电子方式传输图像的想法是随着电报的发展而产生的,早在 1875 年,人们就设计出了图像传输系统和工作方法。第一台实用的图像传输器由保罗·尼普科夫 (Paul Nipkow,1860-1940) 于 1905 年演示,该传输器基于他在 1884 年的一个想法。它涉及一个带有螺旋孔的旋转盘。穿过孔的光线落在图像上,并被转换成电信号,该电信号控制接收端匹配旋转盘后面的灯的强度。实际上,第一个穿孔盘扫描图像,第二个盘同步光脉冲并将它们转换回图像。使用磁盘系统,第一幅静态图像于 1907 年通过无线电广播。到 1924 年,可以传输运动图像,但图像尺寸很小,大约 2.5 厘米。
Television does not have a single inventor but rather hundreds of contributors. The idea of transmitting images electrically developed along with the telegraph, and working methods were devised as early as 1875. The first practical image transmitter was demonstrated by Paul Nipkow (1860–1940) in 1905, based on an idea he had in 1884. It involved a spinning disk with a spiral of holes. Light passing through the holes fell on an image and was converted to an electric signal that controlled the intensity of a lamp set behind a matching rotating disk at the receiving end. In effect, the first perforated disk scanned the image and the second synchronized the light impulses and turned them back into the image. Using a disk system, the first still picture was broadcast by radio in 1907. By 1924 a moving image could be transmitted, but the image size was tiny, about 2.5 centimeters.
1906 年,李·德福雷斯特 (Lee Deforest,1873-1961) 发明了 Audion 放大器,这为大量电子设备的出现打开了大门。Audion 放大器用于增强阴极射线管或真空管中的电信号。电子管技术的众多发展最终使菲洛·泰勒·法恩斯沃思 (Philo Taylor Farnsworth,1906-71) 于 1927 年开发出电子显像管;同年,贝尔电话实验室在华盛顿特区和纽约之间播放了图像。1923 年,弗拉基米尔·兹沃里金 (Vladimir Zworykin,1889-1982) 发明了“Iconoscope”,这是一种结合了镜头并使用光电马赛克来捕捉图像的摄像管,大大改进了摄像技术。原型于 1929 年展示,并于 1933 年由 RCA 制造。到 1935 年,电视已在英国、德国和法国播出;1936 年,柏林奥运会进行了电视转播。 1937 年,英国广播公司播出了乔治六世国王的加冕典礼。1939 年,富兰克林·罗斯福成为第一位发表电视讲话的总统。尽管广播非常地方化,但到 1939 年底,英国售出了 20,000 多台电视机。
The invention of the Audion amplifier in 1906 by Lee Deforest (1873–1961) opened the door to a number of electronic devices. The Audion was used to boost an electrical signal in a cathode ray tube or vacuum tube. Numerous developments in tube technology eventually allowed Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1906–71) to develop an electronic picture tube in 1927; in that same year Bell Telephone Laboratories broadcast pictures between Washington, DC, and New York. In 1923 Vladimir Zworykin (1889–1982) significantly improved camera technology when he invented the “Iconoscope,” a camera tube that combined lenses and used a photoelectric mosaic to capture the image. The prototype was demonstrated in 1929 and was manufactured by RCA in 1933. By 1935 television was being broadcast in Britain, Germany, and France; in 1936 the Olympics in Berlin were televised. The coronation of King George VI was broadcast in 1937. In 1939 Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first president to make a televised speech. Although broadcasts were very local, more than 20,000 television sets were sold in Britain by the end of 1939.
战争减少了电视需求,因为所需的人力和物资都被用于战争工作。随着战争的结束和统一技术标准的建立,电视需求量大增,而彩色广播的引入更是进一步刺激了电视需求,彩色广播于 1954 年左右在美国开始,1967 年在欧洲开始,正好赶上美国宇航局阿波罗计划的播出。美国宇航局宇航员的几乎一举一动都是在电视摄像机前进行的。尽管公众并不总是能理解他们所看到的内容,但电视改变了科学家在社会中的地位,并无疑吸引了年轻人关注这一主题。
The demand for television was curtailed by the war, as both the people and materials needed were diverted to war work. With the end of the war and with the creation of uniform technical standards, there was a huge demand for television, which was spurred on even further with the introduction of color broadcasting starting around 1954 in the United States and 1967 in Europe – just in time to broadcast the events of NASA’s Apollo program. Almost every move of the NASA astronauts was carried out in front of television cameras. Even if the public did not always understand what they were being shown, television changed the place of scientists in society and certainly attracted young people to the subject.
通过太空计划将大型物体送入轨道的能力使通信卫星成为现实。1960 年,美国发射了 Echo,第一颗无源通信卫星诞生了,它只不过是一个银色的气球。1962 年,Telstar 卫星接替了它,它转播了第一个跨大西洋电视广播。
The ability through the space program to put large objects in orbit made communication satellites a reality. In 1960 the United States launched Echo, the first passive communications satellite, which was little more than a silver balloon. This was followed in 1962 by Telstar, which relayed the first transatlantic television broadcast.
Telstar 发射后,商业工作不再需要 Echo 所用的设备。贝尔允许 Arno Penzias (1933-) 和 Robert Wilson (1936-) 使用微波探测器(由于形似公羊角,因此被称为“喇叭天线”)进行射电天文学研究。在研究微波区域的辐射时,他们发现了一种持续的嘶嘶声,有点像调到空频的 FM 收音机。虽然这不会干扰通信,但对天文工作来说却是一个问题。在消除潜在的本地干扰源(如接收器中的鸽子)后,噪音仍然存在。它不是设备发出的。它不是核试验尘埃辐射,甚至不是太阳辐射。即使在空旷的天空中,他们也能探测到微弱的辐射。
After the launch of Telstar, equipment that had been used with Echo was no longer needed for commercial work. Arno Penzias (1933–) and Robert Wilson (1936–) were allowed by Bell to use a microwave detector (called a “horn antenna” because it looked like a ram’s horn) for radio astronomy. Working on emissions in the microwave region, they found a constant hiss, somewhat like an FM radio tuned to an empty frequency. While this had not interfered with communications, it was a problem for astronomical work. After eliminating potential local sources of interference (such as pigeons in the receiver), the noise remained. It wasn’t in the equipment. It wasn’t radiation from nuclear test fall-out or even from the Sun. They could detect a faint bit of radiation even in empty portions of the sky.
彭齐亚斯和威尔逊既感到沮丧又感到好奇,他们寻找持续背景噪音的理论解释。他们联系了罗伯特·迪克(1916-97 年),迪克当时正在普林斯顿大学研究大爆炸理论。迪克提出,原始爆炸会留下一种以低水平背景辐射形式存在的残留“噪音”。彭齐亚斯和威尔逊掌握了证据。宇宙在 3° 开尔文左右产生类似黑体的辐射(基尔霍夫和普朗克对此进行了研究;见第 8 章)。宇宙背景辐射在各个方向上都是均匀的,这意味着宇宙在均匀膨胀(符合哈勃和勒梅特的理论),而且宇宙的初始温度相同。尽管稳态论的支持者提出了其他原因,但大爆炸最终成为了宇宙学的标准模型,部分原因是由于这一证据。彭齐亚斯和威尔逊于 1978 年与彼得·列昂尼多维奇·卡皮察 (1894-1984) 共同获得诺贝尔物理学奖。
Both frustrated and intrigued, Penzias and Wilson looked for a theoretical explanation for the persistent background noise. They contacted Robert Dicke (1916–97), who was working at Princeton University on theories about the Big Bang. He suggested that a kind of residual “noise” in the form of low-level background radiation would be left over from the original explosion. Penzias and Wilson had the evidence in hand. The universe was producing emissions like that of a black body (as investigated by Kirchhoff and Planck; see Chapter 8) at a temperature of around 3° Kelvin. The cosmic background radiation was uniform in all directions, meaning that the universe was expanding uniformly (fitting with Hubble’s and Lemaître’s ideas) and further that the universe had started at the same initial temperature. Although alternative reasons for this were presented by the Steady State supporters, the Big Bang eventually became the standard model for cosmology, in part because of this evidence. Penzias and Wilson went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1978, sharing the prize with Pjotr Leonidovich Kapitsa (1894–1984).
当物理学家和天文学家专注于大局时,NASA 仍在努力解决周边问题。关于月球之旅,必须回答的第一个实际问题是人类是否可以在太空中生活。一些技术方面已经得到很好的理解,例如缺乏大气层和发射对生理的一般影响,但其他方面,例如失重和辐射暴露的影响,尚不清楚。这些问题的答案需要载人飞行。苏联和美国的太空计划都用动物进行了实验,然后迅速采取行动,率先将人类送入太空。苏联赢了。第一位进入太空的人是尤里·加加林(1934-68 年)于 1961 年 4 月 12 日绕地球飞行。同年 5 月 5 日,美国国家航空航天局 (NASA) 派遣艾伦·谢泼德 (Alan Shepard,1923-98 年) 进行了一次亚轨道飞行。
While physicists and astronomers concentrated on the big picture, NASA was still working on getting around the neighborhood. The first practical question that had to be answered about a trip to the Moon was whether a human could live in space. Some technical aspects were well understood, such as the lack of atmosphere and the general physiological impact of launches, but others, such as the effects of weightlessness and exposure to radiation, were not clear. Answers to these questions required manned flights. Both the Soviet and American space programs experimented with animals, and then moved rapidly to be first to put a man in space. The Soviets won. The first man in space was Yuri Gagarin (1934–68), who orbited the Earth on April 12, 1961. NASA sent Alan Shepard (1923–98) on a suborbital flight on May 5 of the same year.
尽管太空旅行现在似乎成为可能,但人类的持续生存却受到质疑。1961 年,美国支持的入侵古巴失败了。猪湾惨败是一个巨大的尴尬,加剧了美国和苏联之间的紧张局势。一年后,全世界屏息凝神,应对古巴导弹危机。美国侦察机记录了古巴建造可用于发射核武器的导弹基地的情况。由于古巴距离美国海岸不到 150 公里,因此无需洲际弹道导弹来运送武器。肯尼迪总统下令海军封锁古巴,而尼基塔·赫鲁晓夫则继续向古巴运送军事物资。随后双方陷入紧张的僵局。我们现在知道,这场危机的特点是信息匮乏、军事失误和混乱,双方都让军队处于高度戒备状态,将世界推向战争的边缘。幸运的是,秘密谈判结束了僵局。苏联同意从古巴撤走武器,美国悄悄地从土耳其撤走了导弹。就在世界开始复苏之际,1963年肯尼迪总统遇刺身亡。
Although space travel now seemed a possibility, the continued existence of humanity was thrown into doubt. In 1961 an American-backed invasion of Cuba failed. The Bay of Pigs fiasco was a major embarrassment and increased tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. A year later the world held its breath through the Cuban Missile Crisis. American spy planes recorded the construction of missile sites in Cuba that could be used to launch nuclear weapons. Since Cuba was under 150 kilometers from the American coast, there was no need for ICBMs to deliver the weapons. President Kennedy ordered the blockading of Cuba by the navy, as Nikita Khrushchev proceeded with a shipment of military material to Cuba. A tense standoff followed. The Crisis, which we now know was characterized by a lack of information, military mistakes, and confusion, brought the world to the brink of war as both sides put their forces on high alert. Fortunately, secret negotiations ended the standoff. The Soviet Union agreed to remove its weapons from Cuba, and the United States quietly took its missiles out of Turkey. Just as the world started to recover, in 1963 President Kennedy was assassinated.
在经历了这么多问题之后,美国终于准备好迎接好消息了。肯尼迪的登月承诺得到了下一届政府的支持,并成为他的遗产之一。肯尼迪航天中心以他的名字命名。NASA 和阿波罗计划成为美国有史以来最大的非军事项目。在顶峰时期,它直接雇用了近 30,000 人,并通过承包商雇用了数千人,约占联邦预算的 5%。
After so many problems, the United States was ready for some good news. Kennedy’s commitment to get to the Moon was endorsed by the following administration and became one of his legacies. The Kennedy Space Center was named in his honor. NASA and the Apollo program became the largest nonmilitary project ever undertaken by the United States. At its height, it employed almost 30,000 people directly and thousands more through contractors and represented about 5 per cent of the federal budget.
阿波罗计划的主要成就之一是生产了土星系列火箭。这些液体燃料火箭,特别是土星五号,是太空计划的主力。1967 年,阿波罗 1 号发生火灾,发射台上的全体机组人员丧生,该计划因此受阻。但 1968 年,阿波罗 8 号成功绕月飞行,基本上解决了往返月球的所有技术问题,除了着陆之外。1969 年 7 月 20 日,阿波罗 11 号降落在月球表面,这是举国同庆、国际上充满成就感的时刻。虽然苏联已经将更多物体送入太空,但并未登陆月球。飞行和冒险的戏剧性场面直接带入了数百万人的客厅,并通过全球广播和电视现场直播。人们第一次将地球视为一个行星和一个地球村,一个遥远的蓝绿色鹅卵石,耸立在外星景观之上。
One of the main accomplishments of Apollo was the production of the Saturn rocket series. These liquid-fueled rockets, particularly the Saturn V, were the workhorses of the space program. The program was set back in 1967 when a fire on Apollo 1 killed the crew on the launch pad, but in 1968 Apollo 8 orbited the Moon, essentially resolving all the technical issues about getting there and back, short of landing. Apollo 11 touched down on the surface of the Moon on July 20, 1969, a moment of national pride and international sense of accomplishment. While the Soviet Union had sent more objects into space, it had not gone to the Moon. The drama of the flight and the adventure was brought straight into the living rooms of millions of people, broadcast live on radio and television around the world. For the first time, people saw the Earth as a planet as well as a global village, a distant blue-green pebble rising above an alien landscape.
医学研究员克劳德·伯纳德(Claude Bernard,1813-78 年)曾在哲学层面上说过:“艺术是我,科学是我们。” 4这在太空竞赛中体现得最为明显。NASA 成为世界上最大的科学研究支持者,不仅在直接雇用或通过向私人和公共组织提供资助的人员总数方面,而且在研发范围方面也是如此。从营养学家和家庭经济学家到理论物理学家,从电气工程师到图书管理员,从化学家到计算机程序员 — — 所有人都聚集在 NASA。它是最大的大科学机构。即使在 1999 年,当其员工人数已减少到巅峰时期的近一半时,NASA 仍有 5,971 名拥有高级学位(博士和硕士)的员工和 7,255 名拥有学士学位的员工,几乎全部从事科学和工程专业。
Claude Bernard (1813–78), a medical researcher, said in a philosophical moment that “Art was I: Science is We.”4 Nowhere was this more clearly shown than in the race for space. NASA became the world’s biggest supporter of scientific research in terms not only of the overall number of people directly employed or funded by grants to private and public organizations but of the scope of research and development as well. From nutritionists and home economists to theoretical physicists, from electrical engineers to librarians, from chemists to computer programmers – all were brought together in NASA. It was the biggest of Big Science. Even in 1999, when it had been reduced by almost half its peak workforce, NASA had 5,971 employees with advanced degrees (doctorates and masters) and a further 7,255 with bachelor degrees, almost all in science and engineering.
美国宇航局的项目也帮助改变了科学的形象,尤其是在美国。它不再受军备竞赛的破坏性形象的影响,而变得更加美国化。虽然操着外国口音的人还在,但美国宇航局的声音和形象是电视新闻播音员沃尔特·克朗凯特和一群来自美国煤矿城镇和草原农场的男孩,他们拥有“正确的东西”。太空计划使科学变得充满冒险和魅力,而不是沉闷和深奥。科学的效用,无论是最好的、最坏的,还是最马基雅维利式的,现在都已成为日常生活的一部分。它也成为了美国梦的一部分。
The NASA programs also helped change the image of science, especially in the United States. It was less tainted by the destructive image of the arms race and was made more American. While men speaking in foreign accents were still around, NASA’s voice and image was the television news announcer Walter Cronkite and a host of boys from American coal-mining towns and prairie farms who had the “right stuff.” The space program made science adventurous and glamorous rather than sedentary and esoteric. The utility of science, in its best, worst, and most Machiavellian applications, was now a part of everyday life. It had also become part of the American dream.
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1.诺曼·博洛格,《1970 年诺贝尔和平奖获奖感言》,诺贝尔奖,www.nobelprize.org /prizes/peace/1970/borlaug/acceptance-speech/。© 诺贝尔基金会,1970 年。
1. Norman Borlaug, “Acceptance Speech for the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize,” The Nobel Prize, www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1970/borlaug/acceptance-speech/. © The Nobel Foundation, 1970.
2.多普勒效应以克里斯蒂安·多普勒 (1805-53) 的名字命名,它解释了移动声音音调的明显上升和下降。当声音朝你移动时,音调上升,当声音远离你时,音调下降。如果一个物体(例如一颗星星)远离我们,它发出的光的波长就会增加,看起来好像光向光谱的红端移动了。
2. The Doppler effect, named for Christian Doppler (1805–53), explains the apparent rise and fall in the pitch of a moving sound. The pitch of the sound rises when it is moving toward you and falls when it is moving away from you. If an object, such as a star, is moving away from us, the wavelength of light it emits increases, making it look as if the light is shifted toward the red end of the spectrum.
3.约翰·F·肯尼迪,《就紧急国家需求向国会发表的特别讲话》,1961 年 5 月 25 日,约翰·F·肯尼迪总统图书馆和博物馆,音频,46:01,www.jfklibrary.org /asset-viewer/archives/JFKWHA/1961/JFKWHA-032/JFKWHA- 032。
3. John F. Kennedy, “Special Message to Congress on Urgent National Needs,” May 25, 1961, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, audio, 46:01, www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKWHA/1961/JFKWHA-032/JFKWHA-032.
4.CCGillispie,《克劳德·伯纳德》,《科学传记词典》 (纽约:Charles Scribner's Sons,1970 年)。
4. C.C. Gillispie, “Claude Bernard,” Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970).
1972 年,当人类最后一次踏上月球时,科学已经与工业化世界现代社会的行为紧密相连,成为它所创造的世界不可或缺的组成部分。大多数重大科学项目都是团队和团队网络的成果。产生的信息如此庞大,不仅个人无法跟上科学发展的步伐,科学家也难以跟上自己学科的发展。全世界有超过 20,000 种科学期刊。学科正在分裂成子学科,而子学科又经常分裂成更专业的领域。仅在化学领域,化学家的类型就增长了五倍多,因为美国化学学会的学科分支从 1908 年最初的 5 个增加到 1974 年的 28 个。
When men last walked on the Moon in 1972, science was so entwined with the conduct of modern society in the industrialized world that it had become an indispensable component of the world it had helped to create. Most major science projects were the work of teams and networks of teams. The information being produced was so vast that not only was it impossible for a single person to keep up with developments in science generally, but scientists also had trouble keeping up with developments in their own disciplines. There were more than 20,000 scientific journals worldwide. Disciplines were splitting into subdisciplines, which in turn often split into further specialized areas. In chemistry alone the number of types of chemists had grown more than fivefold, as the disciplinary divisions in the American Chemical Society had risen from the original 5 in 1908 to 28 in 1974.
这种巨大的增长意味着科学不再是哲学精英或一小群研究人员/朝臣的专属领域。它是一种职业,一种由指导顾问建议的就业选择,报纸就业机会栏中的一个专栏。越来越多的人,根据教育和专业协会被归类为科学家,他们并不从事研究,而是负责各种各样的工作,这些工作需要精确使用科学仪器和了解专门的系统。或者他们正在向下一代传授这些技能。
This enormous growth meant that science was no longer the exclusive domain of a philosophical elite or even of a small group of researchers/courtiers. It was an occupation, an employment choice suggested by guidance counselors, a column in the employment opportunities section of the newspaper. Increasingly, many of the people who could be classified as scientists by education and professional association were not doing research but were in charge of the many and varied jobs that required precision with scientific instruments and a knowledge of specialized systems. Or they were teaching the next generation those skills.
在整个二十世纪,科学事业越来越国际化,尽管国家资助和战争工作似乎在将其拉向相反的方向。国际科学合作目标最明显的标志之一是国际科学联盟的成立。尽管新组织的根源可以追溯到皇家学会等较老的多学科组织,但新组织专注于单一学科,并充当国家科学机构代表聚集在一起交流信息的论坛。国际联盟经常承担或协调项目,例如 IGY,其参与者来自多个联盟,包括国际天文学联合会、国际大地测量和地球科学联合会和国际地质科学联合会。二战后和冷战期间这些联盟的激增表明,科学家们希望保持学术交流渠道畅通,即使政治和意识形态斗争愈演愈烈。(见图12.1。)
Throughout the twentieth century, science was becoming a more international endeavor, even while state funding and war work seemed to be pulling it in the opposite direction. One of the most visible signs of the goal of international cooperation in science was the creation of international scientific unions. Although the new organizations traced their roots to the older multidisciplinary organizations like the Royal Society, the new groups focused on a single discipline and acted as a forum where representatives of national science bodies could come together to meet and share information. The international unions often undertook or coordinated projects, such as the IGY that had participants from several unions including the International Astronomical Union, the International Union of Geodesy and Geoscience, and the International Union of Geological Sciences. The explosion of these unions after World War II and during the Cold War speaks to scientists’ desire to keep scholarly lines of communication open, even as political and ideological battles heated up. (See figure 12.1.)
12.1按成立日期划分的国际联盟
12.1 INTERNATIONAL UNIONS BY DATE OF FOUNDING
1922 1922 | 国际天文学联合会 International Astronomical Union | 天文学 Astronomy |
1922 1922 | 国际数学联合会 International Mathematical Union | 数学 Mathematics |
1922 1922 | 国际大地测量学和地球物理学联合会 International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics | 大地测量学和地球物理学 Geodesy and geophysics |
1922 1922 | 国际地质科学联合会 International Union of Geological Sciences | 地质学 Geology |
1922 1922 | 国际科学史与科学哲学联合会 International Union of History and Philosophy of Science | 科学史与科学哲学 History of science and philosophy of science |
1922 1922 | 国际纯粹与应用化学联合会 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry | 化学 Chemistry |
1922 1922 | 国际纯粹与应用物理学联合会 International Union of Pure and Applied Physics | 物理 Physics |
1922 1922 | 国际无线电科学联合会 International Union of Radio Science | 无线电科学 Radio science |
1923 1923 | 国际地理联合会 International Geographical Union | 地理 Geography |
1925 1925 | 国际生物科学联合会 International Union of Biological Sciences | 生物学 Biology |
1947 1947 | 国际晶体学联合会 International Union of Crystallography | 晶体学 Crystallography |
1947 1947 | 国际理论与应用力学联合会 International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics | 机制 Mechanics |
1955 1955 | 国际生物化学和分子生物学联合会 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | 生物化学和分子生物学 Biochemistry and molecular biology |
1955 1955 | 国际生理科学联合会 International Union of Physiological Sciences | 生理 Physiology |
1966 1966 | 国际纯粹与应用生物物理学联合会 International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics | 生物物理学 Biophysics |
1968 1968 | 国际营养科学联合会 International Union of Nutritional Sciences | 营养 Nutrition |
1972 1972 | 国际基础和临床药理学联合会 International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology | 药理 Pharmacology |
1976 1976 | 国际免疫学会联合会 International Union of Immunological Societies | 免疫学 Immunology |
1982 1982 | 国际微生物学会联合会 International Union of Microbiological Societies | 微生物学 Microbiology |
1982 1982 | 国际心理科学联合会 International Union of Psychological Science | 心理学 Psychology |
1990 1990 | 国际制图协会 International Cartographic Association | 制图 Cartography |
1993 1993 | 国际脑研究组织 International Brain Research Organization | 神经科学 Neuroscience |
1993 1993 | 国际人类学和民族学科学联合会 International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences | 人类学和民族学 Anthropology and ethnology |
1993 1993 | 国际土壤科学联合会 International Union of Soil Sciences | 土壤科学 Soil science |
1996 1996 | 国际食品科学技术联合会 International Union of Food Science and Technology | 食品科学与食品技术 Food science and food technology |
1996 1996 | 国际毒理学联合会 International Union of Toxicology | 毒理学 Toxicology |
1999 1999 | 国际医学物理与工程科学联合会 International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine | 医学物理学 Medical physics |
2002 2002 | 国际摄影测量与遥感学会 International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing | 摄影测量和遥感 Photogrammetry and remote sensing |
2005 2005 | 国际第四纪研究联合会 International Union for Quaternary Research | 第四纪 Quaternary period |
2005 2005 | 国际林业研究组织联合会 International Union of Forest Research Organizations | 林业 Forestry |
2005 2005 | 国际材料研究学会联合会 International Union of Materials Research Societies | 材料科学 Materials science |
2011 2011 | 国际社会学协会 International Sociological Association | 社会学和社会科学 Sociology and social sciences |
1931 年,国际科学联合会成立,作为国际联合会的伞状组织。国际科学联合会是两个早期国际主义组织的后裔,即国际研究理事会(1919-31 年)和国际科学院协会(1899-1914 年)。尽管科学联合会不直接隶属于联合国,但它们经常参与联合国项目,特别是与联合国教科文组织和世界卫生组织合作。除了在国际舞台上代表科学外,国际科学联合会还致力于维护科学的普遍性和捍卫科学自由。1998 年,国际科学联合会更名为国际科学理事会 (ICS)。2018 年,ICS 扩大到包括国际社会科学理事会 (ISSC),并更名为国际科学理事会或 ISC。
In 1931 the ICSU was founded as an umbrella organization for the international unions. ICSU was the descendent of two earlier internationalist organizations, the International Research Council (1919–31) and the International Association of Academies (1899–1914). Although the scientific unions were not directly affiliated with the UN, they often worked on UN projects, particularly with UNESCO and the World Health Organization. In addition to representing science on the international stage, ICSU has worked to preserve the universality of science and defend scientific freedom. In 1998 ICSU changed its name to the International Council for Science (ICS).The ICS was expanded in 2018 to include the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and changed its name to the International Science Council or ISC.
20 世纪 70 年代,大量女性开始从事科学事业。从近代以来,科学家的妻子、姐妹和女儿经常为丈夫、兄弟或父亲的科学工作做出重要而独立的贡献。然而,在 19 世纪末之前,很少有女性能够选择独立的科学事业。也许最能说明女性在科学界地位不稳定的例子是法国科学院 1911 年做出的决定剥夺居里夫人在院士中的地位。从十九世纪末开始,女性开始齐心协力,闯入男性的科学禁区。这是更大规模的政治和社会女权运动的一部分,与争取选举权的斗争有关,尽管将选举权视为许多女权主义者的首要目标是错误的。教育是她们追求平等的关键组成部分,而获得更高教育水平的策略之一就是促进良好的教育,让女性成为更好的母亲。科学教育是其中的核心,因为科学促进理性,而且很有用。妇女们努力建立了许多女子学院,以发展这一有用的科学议程。在美国的“七姐妹”等机构(瓦萨学院,成立于 1865 年;史密斯学院,1871 年;韦尔斯利学院,1875 年;布林茅尔学院和巴尔的摩学院,1885 年;曼荷莲学院,1888 年;巴纳德学院,1889 年),女性教授和学习科学。支持这些大学的慈善女性也开始了缓慢的运动,以允许女性进入正规大学,特别是获得理学博士学位。
In the 1970s women began to pursue scientific careers in large numbers. From the early modern period on, wives, sisters, and daughters of scientists had often made important and independent contributions to their husbands’, brothers’, or fathers’ scientific work. Still, before the late nineteenth century, few women could choose an independent scientific career. Perhaps the most telling example of women’s precarious position in science was the 1911 decision of the Académie des Sciences to deny Marie Curie a place among its academicians. Beginning in the late nineteenth century women began a concerted effort to break into the male preserve of science. This was part of the larger political and social feminist movement, linked to the struggle for suffrage, although it is a mistake to see the vote as the prime goal for many feminists. Education was a key component in their quest for equality, and one strategy that was used to gain greater education was the promotion of a good education to make women better mothers. Science education was central to this, since science promoted rationality and was useful. Women worked to establish a number of women’s colleges in order to develop this useful science agenda. At institutions such as the “seven sisters” in the United States (Vassar, founded in 1865; Smith, 1871; Wellesley, 1875; Bryn Mawr and Baltimore, 1885; Mount Holyoke, 1888; and Barnard, 1889), women taught and learned science. The same philanthropic women who supported these colleges also began the slow campaign to allow women into the regular universities, especially to earn PhDs in science.
女性发展了被认为特别适合她们的科学分支,尤其是天文学、心理学、人类学和家政学。早在十九世纪,女性就被聘为天文学的计算员,因为她们更擅长确定恒星准确位置所需的繁琐数学计算,而且工资仅为男性的一小部分。女性被认为对他人的同理心使心理学(尤其是儿童心理学)和人类学成为合适的研究领域。以家庭科学为主题的家政学似乎也非常适合。不幸的是,这些选择并不令人满意。随着更强大的天文仪器和计算机取代了冗长的计算,女性的服务需求减少了,而与物理、化学或生物学相比,其他科学始终被视为二流学科。
Women developed branches of science that were seen as particularly suited to them, especially astronomy, psychology, anthropology, and home economics. As early as the nineteenth century women were employed as calculators in astronomy, since they were better at the tedious mathematical calculations necessary to establish accurate star locations and would work for a fraction of men’s wages. Women’s assumed empathy with others made psychology (especially child psychology) and anthropology seem apt areas of study. Home economics, with its subject the science of the home, also seemed an obvious fit. Unfortunately, these proved unhappy choices. Women’s services were less needed as more powerful astronomical instruments and computers replaced long calculations, and the other sciences were always seen as second-class compared with physics, chemistry, or biology.
第二次世界大战期间,更多女性进入科学界填补职位空缺,包括大学科学教学,因为许多男性科学家被借调到战争部队。然而,这些新职位大多不是永久性的,因为许多大学在战争期间冻结了终身职位的聘用,而战后,大多数女性预计会辞职,为退伍军人腾出空间。越来越多的大学和学院为了提高声望,坚持要求其教员拥有博士学位,而获得博士学位的女性要少得多。大学还开始制定严格的反裙带关系规定,使教员的妻子无法以自己的名义获得工作。
During World War II more women entered the sciences to fill positions, including university science teaching, that were vacated when many male scientists were seconded to the war effort. However, most of these new positions were not permanent, since many universities froze tenure hirings during the war, and after the war most women were expected to step down to make space for returning servicemen. Increasingly, universities and colleges, in an effort to become more prestigious, insisted that their faculty have PhDs, which far fewer women had earned. Universities also began to establish serious anti-nepotism regulations, making it impossible for the wife of a faculty member to have a job in her own right.
人造卫星发射后,美国联邦政府拨出的部分用于促进科学发展的资金确实用于女性,但许多人担心,国家为女性提供奖学金是浪费钱,因为女孩会结婚,而无法接受国家提供的培训。苏联有更多的女科学家,部分原因是当时的政权有意识地决定将科学作为女性的职业。美国人嘲笑这些女科学家,认为这是苏联国家软弱的证据。
After Sputnik, some of the federal money earmarked for improving science in the United States did go to women, but many voiced the concern that national scholarships to women were wasted money, since girls would marry and not use the training the state had provided. The Soviet Union had many more women scientists, in part because the regime there made a conscious decision to promote science as a woman’s career. Americans ridiculed these female scientists as proof of the weakness of the Soviet state.
直到 20 世纪 60 年代末和 70 年代的第二波女权主义者开始大声抗议科学界对女性的待遇,变化才开始发生。例如,1972 年的同工同酬立法迫使大学和研究中心向女性支付与男性相同的工资。反裙带关系规则逐渐被宣布违宪。女权主义科学哲学家批评了科学本身的意识形态,并逐渐实施了鼓励女性从事科学事业的计划。到 20 世纪末,女性开始在某些科学领域(尤其是生物和医学科学)实现与男性平等,而物理学和计算机科学在 21 世纪仍然是男性主导的领域。
It was not until second-wave feminists of the late 1960s and 1970s began to protest loudly the treatment of women in science that changes began to happen. Equal pay legislation in 1972, for example, forced universities and research centers to pay women the same rates as men. Anti-nepotism rules were gradually declared unconstitutional. Feminist philosophers of science critiqued the ideology of science itself, and programs were slowly put into place to encourage women to pursue scientific careers. By the end of the twentieth century women began to achieve parity with men in some sciences (most particularly the biological and medical sciences), while physics and computer science continued as male-dominated fields into the twenty-first century.
战后,随着女性努力争取被认真对待为科学家,以及家庭经济学(家庭科学研究)的地位被其他科学学科取代,实验室与家庭和工作世界之间的关系继续发生变化。科学研究不仅有望为高科技行业提供有用的产品,而且有望为普通人提供有用的产品。这些产品通常是其他研究的副产品,例如微波炉的开发。使用微波加热物体是磁控管研究的副产品,磁控管是二战期间开发的雷达探测设备的核心。1946 年,珀西·斯宾塞 (Percy Spencer,1894-1970) 在雷神公司工作,研究改进磁控管制造的方法,这时他注意到磁控管可以加热物体。在测试中,他将爆米花和鸡蛋放在工作磁控管附近,使它们爆开。他申请了微波炉专利(他获得的 120 项专利中的 1 项),并于 1947 年生产了第一台“Radarange”。它的尺寸和重量与冰箱差不多,需要管道来冷却系统。然而,到 1965 年,家用台面型号问世,如今已成为工业界的标准厨房用具。
In the postwar years, as women struggled to be taken seriously as scientists and as the status of home economics, the scientific study of the home, lost ground to other science disciplines, the relationship between the laboratory and domestic and work worlds continued to change. Science research was expected to produce useful products not just for the high-technology industries but for the average person. These products were often spinoffs of other research, such as the development of the microwave oven. The use of microwaves to heat things was a by-product of research on magnetron tubes, which were at the heart of radar-detection equipment developed during World War II. In 1946 Percy Spencer (1894–1970) was working for the Raytheon Corporation on ways to improve the manufacturing of magnetron tubes when he noticed that they heated things. In tests, he popped popcorn and exploded an egg by placing them close to a working magnetron tube. He applied for a patent (1 of 120 he received) for a microwave cooker, and in 1947 the first “Radarange” was produced. It was about the size and weight of a refrigerator and required plumbing for the cooling system. However, by 1965 domestic countertop models were introduced and are now a standard kitchen appliance in the industrial world.
电子行业是研究成果如何重新融入科学工作以生产消费品的另一个例子。大约在二十世纪初,托马斯·爱迪生(1847-1931)和尼古拉·特斯拉(1856-1943)等许多科学家和发明家弥合了理论科学、实验科学与应用之间的鸿沟。他们的发明、他们组建的团队以及开发他们成果的公司将电气化带入了工业和家庭。电气行业(包括电信行业)需要兼具工程师、科学家和技术人员的工人。这些人可以运用电的基本原理,但他们通常会问“我能做什么?”而不是“宇宙如何运作才能实现这一点?”这有时被称为“应用科学”,但无论是从历史上还是从制度上看,应用科学和纯科学之间并没有明确的界限,尤其是当应用科学的成果以新仪器的形式用于基础研究时。
Another example of how developments in research were folded back into scientific work to produce consumer goods occurred in the electronics industry. Around the beginning of the twentieth century, a host of scientists and inventors such as Thomas Edison (1847–1931) and Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) had bridged the gap between theoretical and experimental science and application. Their inventions, the teams they created, and the companies that developed their work brought electrification to industry and the home. The electrical industries, including the telecommunications sector, required workers who were part engineer, part scientist, and part technician. These people could work with the basic principles of electricity, but they were generally asking the question “what can I make this do?” rather than the question “how does the universe function so this is possible?” This is sometimes called “applied science,” but there is no clear line between applied and pure science, either historically or institutionally, particularly when the products of applied science were then used in fundamental research in the form of new instruments.
两项发现尤其改变了科学实践。它们是计算的发展和固态晶体管的引入。独立而言,它们都是一项重要创新,但合在一起,它们改变了工业社会。随着大科学协调越来越大的团队的工作,计算机提供了管理大科学设备和此类项目产生的海量信息的技术。
Two discoveries in particular combined to change the practice of science. They were the development of computing and the introduction of the solid-state transistor. Independently, each was an important innovation, but together they transformed industrial society. As Big Science coordinated the work of larger and larger teams, computers offered the technology to manage both the equipment of Big Science and the oceans of information such projects generated.
计算的起源与数学的发展类似。计数骨的使用可以追溯到公元前100,000 年左右,而第一个成功的机械计算设备是算盘。一些历史学家发现,早在公元前3,000 年的巴比伦就出现了一种与人们更熟悉的框式算盘原理相同的计数表。巴比伦人是优秀的数学家,他们早在公元前2,300 年就制作了泥板,列出重要数字信息的表格。到大约公元前400 年,算盘已在地中海地区使用。无论是通过独立开发还是贸易接触,算盘在中国于公元 600 年之后的某个时间以现代形式的珠子(杆或线上的珠子)发展起来。
The origins of computing were analogous with the development of mathematics. The use of tally bones dates from around 100,000 BCE, while the first successful mechanical calculating device was the abacus. Some historians identify a kind of counting table that worked on the same principle as the more familiar frame abacus as far back as 3,000 BCE in Babylonia. The Babylonians, who were excellent mathematicians, made clay tablets listing tables of important numerical information as early as 2,300 BCE. By about 400 BCE the abacus was used around the Mediterranean. Whether through independent development or trade contact, the abacus was developed in China in its modern form of beads on rods or wires sometime after 600 CE.
算盘可用于进行涉及基本运算的快速计算,并且直到二十世纪,它仍然是世界上大多数地区的主要计算工具。世纪。然而,到了 17 世纪,它对于自然哲学家和数学家所研究的那些问题已经没那么有用了。涉及正弦和正切的三角学问题以及诸如平方根等复杂计算的更简单的方法,用算盘要么非常耗时,要么根本无法完成。约翰·纳皮尔 (1550-1617) 于 1594 年将他的注意力转向计算理论。他的工作是算法或计算方法。1614 年,他出版了《奇妙对数规则描述》 (Mirifici logarithmorum canons descriptio),其中包含他的表格、表格的使用规则(尤其是在三角学中)以及对数构造原理。这些表格花了他 20 年的时间才完成,但它们做得非常出色,以至于 100 多年来都认为没有必要进行重大修订。
The abacus was useful for rapid calculations involving basic operations, and it remained the primary calculating device for most of the world until the twentieth century. However, it was less useful for the kinds of questions examined by natural philosophers and mathematicians by the seventeenth century. Problems in trigonometry involving sines and tangents and greater facility with complex calculations such as square roots were either very time-consuming or impossible using an abacus. John Napier (1550–1617) turned his mind to the theory of calculation in 1594. His work was on algorithms, or methods of calculation. In 1614 he published Mirifici logarithmorum canons descriptio (Descriptions of the Marvelous Rule of Logarithms), which contained his tables, the rules for their use especially for trigonometry, and the principles of logarithmic construction. The tables had taken him 20 years to complete, but they were so well done that no serious revision was considered necessary for over 100 years.
其他数学家试图将对数表转化为机械形式,从而扩展了纳皮尔的工作。埃德蒙·冈特(1581-1626 年)和威廉·奥特雷德(1574-1660 年)都制作了使用对数的计算尺;维克托·阿梅德·曼海姆(1831-1906 年)于 1850 年左右发明了现代计算尺。
Napier’s work was expanded by other mathematicians who sought to transform logarithmic tables into mechanical form. Both Edmund Gunter (1581–1626) and William Oughtred (1574–1660) produced types of slide rules that used logarithms; Victor Amédée Mannheim (1831–1906) developed the modern slide rule about 1850.
机械计算器通常基于某种齿轮系统,历史悠久。相关描述可追溯到古代,机械计算设备与其他机器(如时钟和星盘)之间存在技术重叠。在近代早期,天文学家兼制图师威廉·希卡德(Wilhelm Schickard,1592-1632 年)在 1623 年写给开普勒的一封信中描述了一种机械计算器,但直到 1642 年,布莱斯·帕斯卡(Blaise Pascal)才展示了一台可以工作的机械计算器。
Mechanical calculators, usually based on some system of gears, also have a long history. Descriptions run back into antiquity, with a technological overlap between mechanical calculating devices and other machines such as clocks and astrolabes. In the early modern period Wilhelm Schickard (1592–1632), an astronomer and cartographer, described a mechanical calculator to Kepler in a letter in 1623, but it was not until 1642 that Blaise Pascal presented a working mechanical calculator.
计算器的限制之一是制造零部件所需的精度。19 世纪,精密制造达到了新的质量水平,因此当查尔斯·巴贝奇 (Charles Babbage) 于 1821 年构思他的差分机时,制造该设备的技术已经成熟。差分机旨在使用多项式函数计算和打印数学表,所有过程无需人工干预。(见图12.2。)它的大部分资金来自英国政府,英国政府向巴贝奇支付了 17,500 英镑,这是一笔巨款。政府希望差分机可用于航海、天文学和日历等领域。早期看起来这笔投资可能会带来一些回报。巴贝奇完成了足够多的差分机,因此在 1827 年它被用来计算对数表,但他并没有完成工作,而是继续对其设计进行添加,这需要将其部分拆除,从而推迟了它的完成。然后,他于 1834 年突然完全放弃了这项事业,开始研究一种新型的计算设备。称为分析机。这种新设备可以使用打孔卡进行编程,因此它是一种通用机器,而不仅仅是一种机械化的加法机。英国政府之前没有从投资中得到任何回报,因此拒绝资助这台新机器,尽管巴贝奇声称它有惊人的潜力。没有资金,分析机就永远不会被制造出来。
One of the constraints on calculators was the precision necessary to manufacture the component parts. In the nineteenth century precision fabrication reached new levels of quality, so when Charles Babbage conceived of his Difference Engine in 1821, the technology was available to construct his device. The Difference Engine was designed to calculate and print mathematical tables using polynomial functions, all without the necessity of human intervention. (See figure 12.2.) It was financed in large part by the British government, which paid Babbage £17,500, a huge sum of money. The government hoped that the Difference Engine would be useful in such areas as navigation, astronomy, and calendars. Early on it appeared that the investment might offer some return. Babbage completed enough of the Engine so that in 1827 it was used to calculate tables of logarithms, but instead of finishing the work, he continued adding to its design, requiring it to be partially dismantled and thus delaying its completion. Then he abruptly abandoned the enterprise altogether in 1834 to begin work on a new type of calculating device he called the Analytical Engine. This new device could be programmed by using punched cards so that it was a general purpose machine, rather than simply a kind of mechanized adding machine. The British government, having received nothing for their earlier investment, refused to fund the new machine regardless of Babbage’s claims for its amazing potential. Without funding, the Analytical Engine was never built.
12.2巴贝奇差分机
12.2 BABBAGE’S DIFFERENCE ENGINE
巴贝奇差分机 1 号的一小部分,取自他的自传《一个哲学家的人生历程》(1864 年)。
A small portion of Babbage’s Difference Engine No. 1 from his autobiography, Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864).
计算器的功能可以根据情况进行更改或编程,这一想法是朝着计算机的发明迈出的关键一步。巴贝奇设想将分析机的结果存储(存储器)与机器的计算部分(磨机)分开。使用穿孔卡控制引擎的想法借鉴了纺织业,约瑟夫-玛丽·雅卡尔(Joseph-Marie Jacquard,1752-1834 年)在该行业引入了一种穿孔卡系统来控制织机编织的图案。对引擎操作的最佳解释并非来自巴贝奇,而是来自洛夫莱斯伯爵夫人奥古斯塔·艾达·拜伦(Augusta Ada Byron,1815-52 年)。艾达是诗人拜伦勋爵的女儿,她于 1833 年结识了巴贝奇,并请他教她数学。1842 年,巴贝奇请她翻译一份关于分析机技术方面的法语说明,但她的注释比原始文档更长。 1843 年,她撰写了一篇关于一类特殊微积分函数的文章,这是对编程的最早描述之一。历史学家对艾达的数学能力以及她在巴贝奇工作中的作用存在分歧。虽然她有时被称为第一位“计算机程序员”,但这有点不符合历史。巴贝奇和他的儿子协助他开发了分析机,他们都熟悉计算机的理论和实践在她参与该项目之前,她已经了解了引擎的运行。尽管如此,在女性被积极阻止从事此类智力活动的时代,艾达的贡献是非凡的。为了纪念她的工作,1979 年为美国国防部开发的一种编程语言被命名为 Ada。
The idea of a calculator whose functions could be changed, or programmed, to suit the circumstances was a crucial step toward the creation of computers. Babbage had conceived of the Analytical Engine storing results (the Store) separately from the part of the machine that did the calculating (the Mill). The idea of punched cards to control the engine had been borrowed from the textile industry, where Joseph-Marie Jacquard (1752–1834) had introduced a system of punched cards to control the patterns woven by looms. The best explanation of the engine’s operations came not from Babbage but from Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace (1815–52). The daughter of the poet Lord Byron, Ada met Babbage in 1833 and asked him to teach her mathematics. In 1842 Babbage asked her to translate a French account of the technical aspects of the Analytical Engine, but her commentary was longer than the original document. In 1843 she wrote about a special class of calculus functions – this was one of the first descriptions of programming. Historians disagree about Ada’s mathematical abilities and her role in Babbage’s work. While she is sometimes called the first “computer programmer,” this is somewhat ahistorical. Babbage and his son, who assisted him on the development of the Analytical Engine, were both conversant with the theory and practice of the engine’s operations before she was involved in the project. Nonetheless, Ada’s contribution in an age when women were actively discouraged from such intellectual activity was remarkable. In honor of her work, in 1979 a programming language developed for the American Department of Defense was named Ada.
尽管巴贝奇从未完成他的分析机,但被遗弃的差分机 2 号于 1991 年在伦敦科学博物馆建造完成。这台机器重达两吨半,包含 4,000 多个活动部件,其工作原理正如巴贝奇所说的那样。
Although Babbage never completed his Analytical Engine, the abandoned Difference Engine No. 2 was built at the Science Museum of London in 1991. Weighing two-and-a-half tons and containing more than 4,000 moving parts, it worked just as Babbage had said it would.
尽管制造了少量差分机,包括乔治·格兰特于 1876 年在费城展出的电动版本,但它们并未得到广泛使用,因为它们的市场很小。它们通常对于商业应用来说过于昂贵,对于数学或科学工作来说不够灵活。直到真空管的引入提供了高速切换和第二次世界大战的技术需求,电子计算设备的发展才超越了巴贝奇机械设计的理论复杂性。Ultra 计划允许英国人解密德国密码,但花费了太长时间。1943 年,汤米·弗劳尔斯 (Tommy Flowers,1905-98) 被派往英国秘密密码破译团队的所在地布莱切利园,制造电子密码破译器。结果就是 Colossus,它让盟军在入侵欧洲期间对德军拥有巨大的优势。尽管它很重要,但 Colossus 项目留下的东西很少。最初的机器于 1946 年被摧毁,甚至它们的存在也一直保密到 1970 年。
Although a small number of difference engines were built, including a motorized version exhibited by George Grant in 1876 in Philadelphia, they were not widely used because there was little market for them. They were generally too expensive for business applications and not versatile enough for mathematical or scientific work. It was not until the introduction of vacuum tubes that offered high-speed switching and the technical demands of World War II that the development of electronic calculating devices moved beyond the theoretical complexity of Babbage’s mechanical designs. The Ultra program allowed the British to decrypt German codes, but it took too long. In 1943 Tommy Flowers (1905–98) was sent to Bletchley Park, home of Britain’s secret team of code breakers, to build an electronic code breaker. The result was Colossus, which gave the Allies a huge advantage over German forces during the invasion of Europe. Despite its importance, little remains of the Colossus project. The original machines were destroyed in 1946, and even their existence was kept secret until 1970.
在大西洋彼岸,约翰·莫奇利(John Mauchly,1907-80 年)和普雷斯珀·埃克特(Presper Eckert,1919-95 年)制造了 ENIAC(电子数字积分计算机)。1942 年左右,有人提出可以开发一种完全电子化的计算器(输入和输出元件除外)。开发这种设备的主要动机之一是远程火炮的复杂性不断增加,它可以向远处的目标开火。弹道表和射击解决方案非常复杂且耗时,最复杂的解决方案可能需要数小时才能手工计算出来。因此,美国陆军军械部队资助了 ENIAC 的开发,在该项目上花费了近 50 万美元。莫奇利和埃克特参与并监督了这台庞大机器的建造。它重达 30 多吨,包含 19,000 个真空管,每小时消耗近 200 千瓦的电力来运行电子设备和防止其烧坏的冷却系统。
On the other side of the Atlantic John Mauchly (1907–80) and Presper Eckert (1919–95) built ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). The suggestion that a fully electronic calculator (except for input and output elements) could be developed was made around 1942. One of the main motivations for such a device was the increasing complexity of long-range artillery, which could fire at targets far out of sight. Ballistics tables and firing solutions were so complex and time-consuming that the most complex might take hours to compute by hand. So the American Army Ordnance Corps funded the development of ENIAC, spending almost $500,000 on the project. Mauchly and Eckert worked on and oversaw the construction of the massive machine. It weighed over 30 tons, contained 19,000 vacuum tubes, and consumed almost 200 kilowatts per hour of electrical power to run both the electronics and the cooling system that kept it from burning out.
ENIAC 于 1946 年在宾夕法尼亚大学摩尔电气工程学院完成。测试后,它被拆开并转移到阿伯丁试验场,在那里投入了全面测试。1947 年投入使用。虽然 ENIAC 在战争期间无法运行,但它被用于许多其他项目,包括天气预报、卫星轨迹和轨道以及核武器计划。Colossus 是第一台电子计算机,但计算机行业是从 ENIAC 开始兴起的。
ENIAC was completed in 1946 at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. After it was tested, it was taken apart and transferred to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, where it went into general operation in 1947. Although ENIAC was not operational during the war, it was used for a number of other projects, including weather forecasting, satellite trajectories and orbits, and nuclear weapons programs. Colossus had been the first electronic computer, but it was from ENIAC that the computer industry sprang.
虽然计算机在某种程度上是一个工程问题,但计算机理论却受到两个人的极大影响:约翰·冯·诺依曼(1903-57 年)和艾伦·图灵(1912-54 年)。冯·诺依曼是一位数学天才,他涉足从博弈论到亚原子物理学等广泛的问题。他于 1930 年从匈牙利来到美国,是 1933 年高等研究院成立时首批被任命的人之一。战争期间,冯·诺依曼担任曼哈顿计划和军械部队的顾问,这使他与 ENIAC 小组有了联系。图灵也是一位天才,对科学和数学很感兴趣。他在布莱切利园度过了战时时光,在那里他参与的 Ultra 项目破解了德国 Enigma 密码。与冯·诺依曼一样,他的工作使他能够接触到实际的计算设备。
While computers were at some level an engineering problem, the theory of computers was greatly affected by two men: John von Neumann (1903–57) and Alan Turing (1912–54). Von Neumann was a mathematical prodigy who turned his hand to a wide range of problems from game theory to subatomic physics. He arrived in the United States from Hungary in 1930 and was one of the first people to be appointed to the Institute for Advanced Studies when it was founded in 1933. During the war, von Neumann was a consultant to the Manhattan Project and to the Ordnance Corps, which brought him into contact with the ENIAC group. Turing was also a prodigy, with interests in science and mathematics. His wartime experience was at Bletchley Park, where his work on Project Ultra broke the German Enigma code. Like von Neumann, his work gave him access to actual computing devices.
1935 年,图灵开始探索计算的理论可能性。在 1937 年发表的论文《论可计算数及其在判定问题中的应用》中,他设想了一种机器,它可以根据有限的运算表执行计算,并读取或删除纸带上的一系列指令。这种理论设备后来被称为“图灵机”,它提供了许多支撑现代计算机的理论思想。战后,图灵受邀加入国家物理实验室,并被要求制造一台计算机。然而,他的自动计算机计划从未实现,他搬到了曼彻斯特大学,研究曼彻斯特自动数字机。1950 年,他在《心灵》杂志上发表了《计算机器与智能》 。它概述了计算中的许多重要问题,推测了计算机与人类思维之间的关系,并概述了“图灵测试”,该测试认为可以通过观察计算机与人类之间的互动来评估机器智能。如果向隐藏受访者提问的人无法辨别受访者是计算机还是其他人,那么计算机的智能水平很可能就达到与人类智能相当的程度了。
In 1935 Turing began exploring the theoretical possibilities of computation. In his 1937 paper “On Computable Numbers with an Application to the Entscheidungs-problem,” he speculated about a machine that could carry out calculations based on a finite table of operations and reading or deleting a series of instructions on a paper tape. This theoretical device, later called a “Turing machine,” offered a number of theoretical ideas that underpin modern computers. After the war Turing was invited to join the National Physics Laboratory and asked to build a computer. His plans for the Automatic Computing Engine were never carried out, however, and he moved to the University of Manchester to work on the Manchester Automatic Digital Machine. In 1950 he published “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” in the journal Mind. It outlined many important issues in computing, speculated on the relationship between computers and human thought, and outlined the “Turing test,” which argued that machine intelligence could be evaluated by observation of the interaction between a computer and a human. If a human asking questions of a hidden respondent could not discern whether the respondent was a computer or another human, then the computer had likely achieved a level of intelligence equivalent to human intelligence.
冯·诺依曼在计算机方面的经验同样使他认为计算机是一种强大的工具。在他的《EDVAC 报告初稿》(1945 年)中,他描述了一种通用的存储程序计算机。他的许多想法都被转化为实际的计算机设备,作为 IBM 的顾问,他为 20 世纪 50 年代商用计算机的发展做出了贡献。1953 年,第一台生产型号 IBM 701 上市。共售出 19 台,主要卖给了航空航天承包商和政府。事实上,它的主要用途之一是开发核武器。在计算和核武器这两个领域,冯·诺依曼有着深远的影响力,他利用这种影响力试图说服美国政府对苏联采取军事行动。冯·诺依曼部分基于他的反共政治观点,部分基于他在创建博弈论的经济/数学领域时发展出来的思想,主张在苏联能够开发自己的核武器之前对其使用原子弹。
Von Neumann’s experiences with computers likewise led him to see them as offering a powerful tool. In his “First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC” (1945), he described a general purpose, stored program computer. Many of his ideas were translated into actual computer equipment, and, as a consultant to IBM he contributed to the development of commercial computers in the 1950s. In 1953 the first production model, the IBM 701, was marketed. Nineteen were sold, mostly to aerospace contractors and the government. One of its main uses was, in fact, the development of nuclear weapons. In these two realms – computing and nuclear weapons – von Neumann had a profound influence, which he used to try to persuade the American government to take military action against the Soviet Union. Partly based on his anti-communist political views and partly on ideas that he had developed when he created the economic/mathematical field of game theory, von Neumann advocated using the atomic bomb on the Soviet Union before it could develop its own nuclear weapons.
冯·诺依曼和图灵都英年早逝。图灵因同性恋关系(当时是非法的)被捕后,英国政府取消了他的安全许可,在冷战的偏执狂中,他实际上被赶出了政府工作。他于 1954 年自杀。冯·诺依曼仅在三年后因癌症去世。虽然许多人都在研究计算机,但这两位是理论和概念方面的领导者,使电子计算机成为有史以来用途最广泛的设备。
Both von Neumann and Turing died young. When Turing was arrested for having a homosexual relationship (illegal at the time), the British government removed his security clearance, effectively driving him out of government work amid Cold War paranoia. He committed suicide in 1954. Von Neumann died of cancer only three years later. While many people worked on computers, these two were leaders in the theoretical and conceptual aspects that made the electronic computer the most versatile device ever created.
要将计算机从装满不稳定真空管、需要大量技术人员维护的庞然大物转变为更易于管理且价格合理的设备,需要引入一项新技术。这项技术几乎是在 ENIAC 开始为美国军队计算弹道表的同时诞生的,它就是固态晶体管。
Turning computing machines from gigantic monsters full of temperamental vacuum tubes that had to be tended by a phalanx of technicians into something more manageable and affordable required the introduction of a new technology. That technology, which had started at almost the same moment as ENIAC began to calculate ballistic tables for the American army, was the solid state transistor.
固态晶体管的出现是为了解决电子通信中的一个基本问题。随着电脉冲(信号,无论是点和划、语音还是后来的其他类型的信息)必须传输的距离增加,信号会逐渐减弱。这对长途电话来说是一个严重的问题,因此许多人都在努力寻找如何增强信号强度的方法不会使信号失真。1912 年推出的 Audion 电子管及其众多衍生产品部分解决了这一问题。对于用户数量不断增长的电话公司来说,电子管解决方案也带来了自身的技术问题,因为放大器体积庞大、耗电量大,而且烧坏后可能会长时间中断服务。
The solid state transistor originated as a solution to a fundamental problem in electrical communication. As the distance an electrical impulse (the signal, whether dots and dashes, voice, or later other kinds of information) had to travel increased, it progressively weakened. This was a serious problem for long-distance telephones, so many people worked to figure out how to boost the signal strength without distorting the signal. It was partly solved by the introduction in 1912 of the Audion tube and its many descendants. For telephone companies with growing numbers of subscribers, the tube solution created its own technical problems, since the amplifiers were bulky, used a great deal of power, and could knock out service for long periods by burning out.
1936 年,物理学家威廉·肖克利 (William Shockley,1910-1989 年) 受聘于贝尔实验室,凭借其对量子力学的了解,他被要求寻找制造可靠固态设备以取代旧系统的方法。他的初步努力没有成功,随后战争又中断了工作。1945 年,当他回到贝尔实验室时,他又重新研究固态问题,但另一项设计失败了。该项目随后交给了肖克利实验室的两位科学家约翰·巴丁 (John Bardeen,1908-1991 年) 和沃尔特·布拉顿 (Walter Brattain,1902-1987 年)。他们想出了一种新方法。他们用一小块锗、一些金箔和一根回形针作为弹簧,能够将电信号放大到原始强度的近 100 倍。(见图12.3。)
In 1936 the physicist William Shockley (1910–89) was hired by Bell Laboratories and, with his knowledge of quantum mechanics, was asked to look for ways to create a reliable solid state device to replace the old system. His preliminary efforts were unsuccessful, and then the war interrupted work. When he returned to Bell Laboratories in 1945, he returned to the solid state question, but another design failed. The project was then turned over to John Bardeen (1908–91) and Walter Brattain (1902–87), two scientists working in Shockley’s lab. They came up with a new approach. Taking a small piece of germanium, some gold foil, and a paper clip as a spring, they were able to amplify an electrical signal almost 100 times its original strength. (See figure 12.3.)
12.3固态放大器
12.3 SOLID STATE AMPLIFIER
1947 年 12 月 23 日,巴丁和布拉顿向贝尔高管展示了他们的发明。这是一个重大突破,尽管除了应用于电话放大之外,没有人真正知道它对电子行业意味着什么。此外,肖克利既为他的研究小组的成功感到高兴,又为自己经过这么多年的努力却没有成为发明者而感到愤怒。他继续开发一种不同形式的晶体管,用一种基于半导体材料本身的“结”或边界的更强大的系统取代了巴丁/布拉顿设计中用于通过半导体材料传输信号的细线(称为“点接触”)。
On December 23, 1947, Bardeen and Brattain demonstrated their invention to Bell executives. It was a major breakthrough, although beyond its application to telephone amplification, no one really knew what it would mean for the electronics industry. Further, Shockley was both pleased with the success of his research group and angry that he had not been the inventor after so many years of effort. He went on to develop a different form of transistor that replaced the fine wires used to channel the signal through the semiconducting material of the Bardeen/Brattain design (called “point contacts”) with a more robust system based on “junctions” or boundaries in the semiconducting material itself.
起初,晶体管的使用范围有限。1952 年,第一个使用新技术的商业产品是助听器。通用电气、飞歌和 RCA 等大型电子公司在电子管技术上投入过多,无法简单地改用新晶体管。第一个大众市场一项艰巨的努力是 1954 年德州仪器为便携式收音机生产结型晶体管。1958 年,德州仪器的杰克·基尔比(Jack Kilby,1923-2005)将不同的电子元件放在了同一块半导体上,而 1959 年仙童半导体公司的罗伯特·诺伊斯(Robert Noyce,1927-90)研究出了连接这些元件的方法。两人共同创造了集成电路。德州仪器退出了收音机市场,而一家日本小公司索尼则加入了进来。晶体管收音机相对便宜,而且小到可以放进衬衫口袋,它在战后繁荣和婴儿潮使电子娱乐成为大生意的时候进入了市场。到 20 世纪 60 年代中期,索尼开始使用晶体管技术制造电视机,日本开始主导消费电子行业。
In the beginning the transistor found limited use. In 1952 the first commercial product using the new technology was a hearing aid. Large electronics companies such as General Electric, Philco, and RCA had too much invested in tube technology to simply change to the new transistors. The first mass market effort was the production of junction transistors by Texas Instruments for a portable radio in 1954. In 1958 Jack Kilby (1923–2005) at Texas Instruments put different electronic components on the same piece of semiconductor, while in 1959 Robert Noyce (1927–90) at Fairchild Semiconductors worked out a way to link such components. Between them, the two men created the integrated circuit. Texas Instruments got out of the radio market, and a small Japanese company, Sony, jumped in. Transistor radios, relatively inexpensive and small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, hit the market just as postwar prosperity and the Baby Boom made electronic entertainment big business. By the middle of the 1960s Sony was manufacturing television sets using transistor technology, and Japan was starting to dominate the consumer electronics industry.
晶体管的应用影响了计算机技术的各个方面,1964 年,Comcor 公司生产了 ci 5000,这是第一台完全晶体管化的通用计算机。集成电路之后最大的突破是 1971 年英特尔公司的 Ted Hoff (1937-) 开发的微处理器,它将计算所需的所有逻辑元素都放在一个芯片上。微处理器控制使编程和计算成为可能的状态(开/关条件),以及处理信号的输入和输出。此后,电子技术呈爆炸式增长。微处理器不仅用于计算机,还被应用于几乎所有使用电的东西,从儿童玩具到电梯、汽车和心脏起搏器。最初只是信号强度的问题,后来却成为现代工业社会的支柱,控制信息流、监控环境,并包含维持所有计算机控制系统运行所需的大量信息。
The application of the transistor affected various aspects of computer technology, and in 1964 the Comcor Company produced the ci 5000, the first fully transistorized, general purpose computer. The biggest breakthrough after the integrated circuit was the 1971 development by Ted Hoff (1937–) at Intel Corporation of the microprocessor, which placed all the logical elements necessary for computing on a single chip. The microprocessor controlled the states (the on/off conditions) that made programming and calculation possible, as well as handling the input and output of signals. After that, electronic technology exploded. Microprocessors were made not just for computers but were put into almost anything that used electricity, from children’s toys to elevators, automobiles, and pacemakers. What had begun as a question of signal strength became the backbone of modern industrial society, controlling the flow of information, monitoring the environment, and containing the massive amounts of information necessary to keep all the computer-controlled systems operating.
1965 年,仙童半导体公司研究主管戈登·摩尔 (Gordon E. Moore,1929-) 预测了微芯片革命。他观察到,自 1959 年以来,集成电路的复杂度每年大约翻一番;按照这个基本速率,他预测到 1975 年市场上将有 65,000 个晶体管芯片。虽然这花了一点时间——直到 1981 年芯片才达到 65,000 个大关——但他对增长率的观察被称为“摩尔定律”,从那时起就成为微处理器的一种经验法则。虽然处于材料和制造系统极限的超级芯片已经处于规划和开发阶段,但最终使计算机有用的不仅仅是硬件,还有软件。
The microchip revolution was predicted in 1965 by Gordon E. Moore (1929–), the head of research at Fairchild Semiconductors. He observed that the complexity of integrated circuits had roughly doubled each year since 1959; using that basic rate, he predicted that by 1975 there would be 65,000 transistor chips on the market. Although that took a bit longer – it wasn’t until 1981 that chips hit the 65,000 mark – his observation about the rate of increase was labeled “Moore’s Law” and has been a kind of rule of thumb for microprocessors ever since. While superchips, at the very limits of the materials and manufacturing systems, are already in the planning and development stage, it is not the hardware alone but the software that ultimately makes the computer useful.
大型和小型计算机的引入改变了几乎所有学科的科学实践。任何需要大量数学运算的计算机可以更快更准确地处理诸如天文学和亚原子物理学之类的操作或大型数据集。但是,计算机也可用于控制设备,因此从显微镜到电泳的一切都变得机械化。计算能力的效用如此重要,以至于世界各地的科学家也致力于开发连接计算机的系统,并在远程位置获取计算机能力,从而催生了计算机网络,并最终催生了互联网。
The introduction of computers, both large and small, transformed scientific practice in almost all disciplines. Anything requiring many mathematical operations or large data sets, such as astronomy and subatomic physics, could be handled more quickly and accurately by computers. However, computers could also be used to control equipment, so everything from microscopes to electrophoresis became mechanized. The utility of computing power was so significant that scientists around the world also worked on systems to connect computers and to gain access to computer power at distant locations, giving birth to computer networks and ultimately to the internet.
晶体管技术使收音机、电视机、电子游戏机和家用电脑价格低廉,它们不仅为人们带来了娱乐,还刺激了人们对更多消费品的需求,与此同时,科学的另一分支也即将改变性别关系。这一变化发生在工业世界的卧室里。在争取性别平等的斗争中,科学既被用来为妇女权利辩护,也被用来为妇女权利辩护。许多争论都围绕着生育问题展开。几代以来,许多人(包括男性和女性)都认为,既然生育是女性的最高目标,那么任何使女性偏离这一目标的事情(如教育、科学研究或外出工作)不仅是坏主意,而且违背了自然规律。许多妇女权利倡导者一直致力于将节育作为女性独立和改善每个人生活的关键。更复杂的是,一些节育倡导者与 20 世纪初的优生学运动有关,该运动寻求对“健康”和“不健康”的人实行不同的生育率。最初,避孕依赖于避孕套和宫颈覆盖物等屏障方法,或不太可靠的排卵时间方法,如安全期避孕法。这一切都在 1951 年发生了改变,当时卡尔·杰拉西 (Carl Djerassi,1923-2015 年) 与墨西哥大学的一个团队一起进行生殖激素控制研究,发现可以通过口服孕激素来控制排卵。口服避孕药成为可能。
While radios, televisions, electronic game consoles, and home computers made inexpensive by transistor technology were entertaining the population and providing a means of stimulating demand for more consumer products, another branch of science was about to change gender relations. This change took place in the bedrooms of the industrial world. In the struggle for gender equality, science had been used as a justification both for and against women’s rights. Much of the debate hinged on reproduction. For generations, many people (both men and women) had argued that, since childbearing was the highest purpose for women, anything that took women away from that goal (such as education, science research, or work outside the home) was not just a bad idea but contravened nature. A number of women’s rights advocates had worked on birth control as a key both to women’s independence and to a better life for everyone. To make matters more complicated, some birth control advocates were connected to the eugenics movement in the early twentieth century, which sought a differential birth-rate for the “fit” and “unfit.” Originally, birth control depended on barrier methods such as condoms and cervical coverings or on less reliable ovulation timing methods such as the rhythm method. This all changed in 1951 when Carl Djerassi (1923–2015), while conducting research on the hormonal control of reproduction with a team at the University of Mexico, showed that ovulation could be controlled by administering the hormone progestin orally. An oral contraceptive became a possibility.
伍斯特实验生物学基金会的格雷戈里·平卡斯 (Gregory Pincus,1903-67 年) 和张敏觉 (Min Chueh Chang,1908-91 年) 继续寻找可靠的激素避孕方法。早期节育倡导者玛格丽特·桑格 (Margaret Sanger,1879-1966 年) 向研究人员介绍了国际收割机 (International Harvester) 财富继承人凯瑟琳·德克斯特·麦考密克 (Katherine Dexter McCormick,1875-1967 年),麦考密克同意了资助他们的工作。她总共为口服避孕药的研究捐赠了约 300 万美元。1956 年,约翰·洛克 (John Rock,1890-1984) 进行了大规模人体试验,1960 年,美国食品药品管理局批准销售口服避孕药。尽管最初的药物存在一些问题(发现它含有的激素比避孕所需的多 10 倍左右),而且一些司法管辖区迟迟没有将这种新避孕药合法化,但它对西方社会产生了深远的影响。由于这项发明,两性关系发生了根本性变化,并使 20 世纪 60 年代的性革命成为可能。
The search for a reliable form of hormonal contraceptive was continued by Gregory Pincus (1903–67) and Min Chueh Chang (1908–91) at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology. Margaret Sanger (1879–1966), an early birth control advocate, introduced Katherine Dexter McCormick (1875–1967), heir to the International Harvester fortune, to the researchers, and McCormick agreed to help fund their work. In all, she contributed some $3 million to research on oral birth control. In 1956 large-scale human trials were conducted by John Rock (1890–1984), and in 1960 the American Food and Drug Administration granted approval for the sale of oral contraceptives. Although there were some problems with the initial drug (it was found to contain about ten times more hormone than was needed for contraception) and some jurisdictions were slow to legalize this new contraceptive, it had a profound effect on Western society. Because of this invention, relationships between the sexes changed radically and made the sexual revolution of the 1960s possible.
1961 年,杰克·利普斯 (Jack Lippes,1924-) 沿着另一条线索,发明了 Lippesloop,一种宫内节育器 (IUD)。宫内节育器是一种小型惰性物体(通常由塑料制成),插入子宫以防止受精,尽管其确切工作原理仍未完全了解。各种形式的宫内节育器可能自古以来就已存在,但它们的现代发展始于 1909 年恩斯特·格拉芬伯格 (Ernst Grafenberg,1881-1957) 的工作。它最初被视为一种安全、低成本的避孕方法,也由女性控制。宫内节育器很受欢迎,但在 AH Robins 公司因 Dalkon Shield 问题被起诉后,其在北美的使用量急剧下降。Dalkon Shield 是由约翰霍普金斯医学院的医生休·J·戴维斯 (Hugh J. Davis) 在 20 世纪 60 年代末开发的。设计问题与盆腔炎、子宫损伤、不育和大量死亡有关。针对该制造商的索赔案几乎达到 40 万起,该制造商于 1974 年停止在美国销售该产品,但直到几年后才停止在世界其他地区销售。由于宫内节育器不是药物,因此对其开发、测试或营销几乎没有控制权。该法律案件凸显了在法律事务中使用科学证据的难度,因为双方都请来了科学专家来为自己辩护。一些人认为 Dalkon Shield 是安全的,而另一些人则提出证据表明它很危险。Dalkon Shield 的问题影响了人们对宫内节育器的普遍看法,尤其是在工业化国家,其使用量急剧下降。
Following another line of inquiry, in 1961 Jack Lippes (1924–) introduced the Lippesloop, an IUD (intrauterine device). The IUD was a small inert object (usually made of plastic) inserted in the uterus to prevent fertilization, although the exact reason why it works is still not completely understood. Various forms of IUD may have existed from ancient times, but their modern development began in 1909 with work by Ernst Grafenberg (1881–1957). It was initially seen as a safe, low-cost method of birth control, which was also under the control of women. IUDs were popular, but their use in North America plunged after the A.H. Robins Company was sued over problems with the Dalkon Shield. The Dalkon Shield had been developed by Hugh J. Davis, a physician at Johns Hopkins Medical School during the late 1960s. Design problems were linked to pelvic inflammatory disease, uterine damage, sterility, and a number of deaths. Almost 400,000 claims were brought against the manufacturer, which stopped sales in the United States in 1974 but not in other parts of the world until several years later. Since IUDs were not drugs, there was little control over their development, testing, or marketing. The legal case highlighted the difficulty of using scientific evidence in legal matters, as both sides brought in scientific experts to argue their case. According to some, the Dalkon Shield was safe, while others presented evidence suggesting it was dangerous. The problems with the Dalkon Shield affected the perception of IUDs in general and, especially in the industrialized world, their use dropped dramatically.
水瓶座时代、伍德斯托克一代以及 20 世纪 60 年代末和 70 年代的性革命催生了现代避孕药具。科学以一种非常现实的方式塑造了这个新时代,但也引发了恐惧和失望。对核战争、越南战争以及科学家与军方之间密切联系的担忧,加剧了社会对科学技术的不安感,尤其是在美国。即使是美国科学技术的旗舰项目阿波罗计划,也在 1972 年随着阿波罗 17 号成为最后一次载人登月任务而结束。1973 年,天空实验室发射升空,但它在很大程度上未能引起公众的关注。许多科学家也质疑天空实验室任务的实用性,尽管它们确实有助于提供有关零重力环境对人体的长期影响的信息。
The Age of Aquarius, the Woodstock generation, and the sexual revolution of the late 1960s and 1970s were the creation of modern contraceptives. Science shaped this new age in a very real way, but it also raised fears and disenchantment. Concerns about nuclear Armageddon, the war in Vietnam, and the close ties between scientists and the military contributed to a sense of social unease with science and technology, especially in the United States. Even the flagship of American science and technology, the Apollo program, ended in 1972 when Apollo 17 became the last manned mission to the Moon. In 1973, Skylab was launched, but it largely failed to capture the imagination of the public. Many scientists also questioned the utility of the Skylab missions, although they did help provide information about the long-term effects of zero-gravity environments on the human body.
太空探索被探测器取代,从技术、经济和科学角度看,这种探索更有意义,但缺乏人类探险家、哥伦布或尼尔·阿姆斯特朗那样的浪漫情怀。水手二号于 1962 年前往金星,金星四号于 1967 年进入金星大气层,金星九号于 1975 年从金星表面传送电视画面。金星曾被认为是一个水世界,但后来却变成了一个充满高温、二氧化碳大气和酸雨的地狱。
The exploration of space was given over to probes, which made more sense technologically, financially, and scientifically but lacked the romance of a human explorer, a Columbus or Neil Armstrong. Mariner 2 traveled to Venus in 1962, Venera 4 made it into Venus’s atmosphere in 1967, and Venera 9 broadcast television pictures from the planet’s surface in 1975. Venus, once thought to be a water world, turned out to be a hell of high temperatures, carbon dioxide atmosphere, and acid rain.
火星是地球的另一个近邻,也是许多探测器的目标。1971 年,两艘苏联和一艘美国航天器进入了围绕这颗红色星球的轨道。起初,它们发回的图像令人失望,几乎没有揭示出有关火星表面的信息,但后来发现这是由于一场席卷整个星球的沙尘暴造成的。随着时间的推移,火星卫星发回了大量信息。人们曾多次尝试将探测器降落在火星表面,但直到 1976 年,海盗 1 号和 2 号才着陆并继续运行。虽然旧科幻小说中火星文明的概念早已消失,但人们曾希望发现以微生物形式存在的生命,但探测器一无所获。迄今为止,火星上没有发现任何生命痕迹,但仍有理论认为,在水分较多的极地地区存在生命痕迹,最近似乎已经检测到流水,火星探测器于 2015 年发回了水的证据。
Mars, Earth’s other close neighbor, was also the target of many probes. In 1971 two Soviet and one American spacecraft went into orbit around the red planet. At first the images they sent back were disappointing, revealing little about the surface of the planet, but that turned out to be due to a planet-wide dust storm. Over time, the Mars satellites sent back large amounts of information. Several attempts were made to land probes on the surface, but it was not until 1976 that Viking 1 and 2 landed and remained operational. While the old science fiction idea of a Martian civilization had long since disappeared, there were hopes that life in the form of microbes might be found, but the probes found nothing. To date, no trace of life on Mars has been found, but there remain theories about traces of life in the polar regions where there is more moisture, and recently running water seems to have been detected, with the Mars Exploration Rovers sending back evidence of water in 2015.
1974 年,水手 10 号也到达了水星附近,发现它是一块烧焦的岩石,表面有类似月球的陨石坑。对外行星的探测始于先驱者 10 号,它于 1973 年飞过木星,发回了有关这颗巨行星磁场和卫星的信息,然后飞向太阳系最远行星轨道之外的深空。先驱者 11 号于 1979 年到达土星,随后旅行者 1 号和 2 号分别于 1980 年和 1981 年到达土星。它们发回了土星环的壮观图像,并揭示了之前未被发现的卫星的存在。当旅行者 1 号前往深空时,旅行者 2 号继续前往天王星,并于 1986 年飞过天王星。
Also in 1974 Mariner 10 reached the vicinity of Mercury, showing it to be a lump of baked rock with a lunar-like surface of craters. Probes to the outer planets started with Pioneer 10, which flew by Jupiter in 1973, sending back information about the giant planet’s magnetic fields and moons, before heading out into deep space beyond the orbit of the furthermost planet in the solar system. Pioneer 11 reached Saturn in 1979, followed by Voyager 1 and 2 in 1980 and 1981. They sent back spectacular images of Saturn’s rings and revealed the presence of previously undetected moons. While Voyager 1 headed into deep space, Voyager 2 continued on to Uranus, flying past it in 1986.
天文学家迅速掌握了大量有关外太空的知识,而物理学家则开始研究微小的物质。自卢瑟福时代以来,物理学家一直在研究光子、电子和中子等原子粒子的结构。他们已经能够通过多种方式研究粒子的行为,但查尔斯·威尔逊(Charles Wilson,1869-1959 年)于 1912 年发明了“云室”,利用小型封闭室中的水蒸气(后来是酒精)来追踪粒子,使这一过程变得更加灵活。进入云室的粒子会在它们所经过的路径上产生少量凝结。由于粒子的行为,这些路径会弯曲或形成线圈,使科学家能够计算能量、电荷和寿命。
As astronomers were rapidly learning a tremendous amount about outer space, physicists investigated the minuscule. Since the era of Rutherford, physicists had been looking at the structure of atomic particles such as photons, electrons, and neutrons. They had been able to study the behavior of particles in a number of ways, but the 1912 invention of the “cloud chamber” by Charles Wilson (1869–1959), which used water vapor (and later alcohol) in a small enclosed chamber to track particles, made the process much more versatile. Particles entering the chamber caused a small amount of condensation along the path they followed. Because of the behavior of the particles, these paths curved or made coils, allowing scientists to calculate energy, charge, and life span.
1932 年,卡尔·安德森 (Carl D. Anderson,1905-91 年) 使用云室研究宇宙射线,试图确定它们是粒子还是波。他发现射线可以被强磁场偏转,表明其具有粒子性质。同时,他注意到另一个粒子的轨迹与电子的轨迹相同,但弯曲方向相反,表明其带相反的电荷。这种粒子是“反电子”或正电子(来自“正电子”)。理论物理学家保罗·A·M·狄拉克 (Paul A.M. Dirac) 早在几年前就预测了它的存在,他认为每个亚原子粒子都会有一个相应的反粒子。
In 1932 Carl D. Anderson (1905–91) used a cloud chamber to study cosmic rays, attempting to determine if they were particles or waves. He found that the rays could be deflected by a strong magnetic field, indicating a particle nature. At the same time he noticed a track for another particle that was the same as that for an electron, but it curved in the opposite direction, indicating that it had the opposite charge. This particle was an “anti-electron” or positron (from “positive electron”). Its existence had been predicted several years earlier by the theoretical physicist Paul A.M. Dirac, who suggested that every subatomic particle would have a corresponding antiparticle.
其他类型的粒子是在宇宙射线研究中发现的,例如 1936 年安德森发现的两个“μ介子”(简称“μ 子”)。这些粒子带相反电荷,质量比电子大得多,但比质子轻。随后,1947 年发现了三种形式(正、负和中性)的“p 介子”(或“π 介子”),1952 年发现了“λ”粒子,它本身不带电荷,但被发现会分解或衰变成质子和负 π 介子。
Other kinds of particles were discovered from cosmic ray studies, such as two “mu-mesons” (shortened to “muon”) found by Anderson in 1936. These particles had opposite charges and were much more massive than electrons but lighter than protons. This was followed by the discovery of three forms (positive, negative, and neutral) of “pimeson” (or “pion”) in 1947 and in 1952 of the “lambda” particle, which had no charge of its own but was found to break down or decay into a proton and a negative pion.
组成原子的粒子在理论上和字面上都在分裂,但研究这些粒子是一项技术挑战。要研究这些粒子,必须加速它们,将它们撞击目标(其他粒子),然后看看会分裂成什么。这项工作由约翰·考克饶夫(John Cockcroft,1897-1967 年)和欧内斯特·沃尔顿(Ernest Walton,1903-95 年)于 1928 年发明的加速器(这并不奇怪)完成。这些直线加速器将粒子投射到长长的直管或隧道中。虽然它们很有用,但它们有局限性,1931 年欧内斯特·劳伦斯开发了第一台回旋加速器,它使用一圈磁铁来加速粒子。回旋加速器证实了爱因斯坦的理论相对论认为,当电子加速到光速时,它们的质量会增加。这是显而易见的,因为随着电子加速,保持电子在回旋加速器周围运动所需的磁场必须大大增加。但是,为了分解原子粒子以试图找到理论家预测的亚原子粒子范围,需要大量的能量,最终科学家建造了一类新型加速器,可以同步粒子在磁场中旋转时所需的磁场增加。这些机器被称为“同步加速器”;第一台同步加速器于 1946 年制造。进一步的改进还允许实验者连接加速器,因此在 1983 年,费米实验室制造了一台加速器,它使用直线加速器、直径 152 米的同步加速器和直径 4 英里的同步加速器。
The particles that made up atoms were literally and theoretically coming apart, but studying the bits was a technical challenge. To study the particles it was necessary to accelerate them, smack them into a target (other particles), and see what came apart. This was accomplished with machines known (not surprisingly) as accelerators, invented in 1928 by John Cockcroft (1897–1967) and Ernest Walton (1903–95). These were linear accelerators that projected the particles down long straight tubes or tunnels. While useful, they had limitations, and in 1931 Ernest Lawrence developed the first working cyclotron, which used a ring of magnets to accelerate particles. Cyclotrons confirmed Einstein’s theory of relativity since, as the electrons were accelerated toward the speed of light, they gained mass. This became apparent because the magnetic field required to keep the electrons moving around the cyclotron had to be greatly increased as they sped up. But to break apart the atomic particles in order to try and find the range of subatomic particles predicted by theorists required huge amounts of energy, and eventually scientists built a new class of accelerators that synchronized the increase in magnetic field needed as the particle circled through it. These machines were called “synchrotrons”; the first one was created in 1946. Further refinements also allowed experimenters to link accelerators, so that in 1983 Fermilab created an accelerator that used a linear accelerator, a 152-meter diameter synchrotron, and a four-mile diameter synchrotron.
除了新的加速器外,还开发了一种更灵敏的粒子轨迹记录方法。20 世纪 50 年代初,唐纳德·A·格拉泽 (Donald A. Glaser,1926-2013) 发明了“气泡室”,其工作原理与云室相同,但使用的是加热到略低于沸点的液态氢,而不是水或酒精蒸汽。当带电粒子穿过氢气时,它们会添加足够的能量使其沸腾并释放气泡。通过测量粒子通过时产生的路径和气泡数量,可以确定其质量和速度的信息。
In addition to the new accelerators a more sensitive method of recording the particle tracks was developed. In the early 1950s Donald A. Glaser (1926–2013) created the “bubble chamber,” which worked on the same principle as the cloud chamber but used liquid hydrogen heated to just below its boiling point rather than water or alcohol vapor. When charged particles passed through the hydrogen, they added just enough energy to cause it to boil and release bubbles. By measuring the path and the number of bubbles produced by the passage of a particle, information about its mass and velocity could be determined.
借助这些新设备,人们发现了大量亚原子粒子。除了传统的质子和电子外,还有介子、介子、胶子、σ、xi、lambda、eta 和大量中微子。1961 年,默里·盖尔曼 (Murray Gell-Mann,1929-2019) 和尤瓦尔·尼曼 (Yuval Ne'eman,1925-2006) 独立创建了一个理论模型,将众多粒子分为不同的家族,有点类似于门捷列夫的元素周期表。然而,大量亚原子粒子的产生似乎是一个谜。一组被称为“强子”的粒子似乎数量无限,对于比原子大块更基本或更基本的物质来说,这是一个奇怪的发现。1964 年,盖尔曼和乔治·茨威格 (George Zweig,1937-) 提出理论,认为强子和分子之间存在相似之处。当然,分子的数量非常多,但元素原子的数量却非常有限。盖尔曼和茨威格认为,强子粒子之于亚原子世界,就如同分子之于原子世界。他们预言了真正的基本粒子的存在,盖尔曼将其命名为“夸克”,借用了詹姆斯·乔伊斯小说《芬尼根的守灵夜》中的一句话。在这个模型中,每个质子或中子由三个夸克和将夸克结合在一起的“胶子”组成。
With all this new equipment, a host of subatomic particles were found. In addition to the old proton and electron were the muon, kaon, gluon, sigma, xi, lambda, eta, and a host of neutrinos. In 1961 Murray Gell-Mann (1929–2019) and Yuval Ne’eman (1925–2006) independently created a theoretical model to classify the many particles into families, somewhat like Mendeleev’s periodic table of elements. Yet there was a mystery about the apparent creation of large numbers of subatomic particles. A group of particles known as “hadrons” seemed to be almost limitless in number, an odd finding for something that was supposed to be more fundamental or elementary than the large bits of the atom. In 1964 Gell-Mann and George Zweig (1937–) theorized that there was a parallel between hadrons and molecules. There were, of course, a huge number of different molecules, but only a small and limited number of elemental atoms. The hadron particles, Gell-Mann and Zweig argued, were to the subatomic world what molecules were to the atomic world. They predicted the existence of truly elementary particles that Gell-Mann named “quarks,” borrowed from a line in James Joyce’s novel Finnegans Wake. In this model, each proton or neutron was made up of three quarks plus “gluons” that held the quarks together.
非常大和非常小的粒子必须相交,因为所有这些粒子的产生都必须来自某个来源。根据大爆炸理论,在宇宙诞生之前,所有能量和物质都被限制在一个没有维度的点上。当时非常热,宇宙的能量如此之高,以至于没有粒子,所有力基本上都是统一的或完全对称的。当宇宙诞生时,它开始冷却,部分开始分化。这种分化或不对称导致了物质的产生,从亚原子领域开始,这些物质以各种方式聚集在一起,形成了我们现在看到的宇宙。这就是弗里德曼提出的大爆炸理论,1970 年罗杰·彭罗斯 (1931-) 和斯蒂芬·霍金 (1942-2018) 对其进行了扩展。
The very big and the very small had to intersect, because the creation of all these particles had to come from some source. According to the Big Bang theory, before the beginning of the universe all energy and matter were confined to a point with no dimensions. It was very hot, and the energy of the universe was so high that there were no particles and all forces were essentially unified or completely symmetrical. When the universe came into being, it started to cool and parts started to differentiate. This differentiation, or asymmetry, led to the creation of matter, building up from the subatomic realm, which clumped together in various ways to give us the universe as we now see it. This was the Big Bang theory as outlined by Friedmann and expanded in 1970 by Roger Penrose (1931–) and Stephen Hawking (1942–2018).
尽管关于宇宙起源的细节仍有许多争论点,但亚原子物理学和天体物理学倾向于证实大爆炸模型。对非常大(天文学)和非常小(亚原子物理学)的研究也汇集在一起,在理论上努力创建一个“大统一理论”,即 GUT,它将为所有四种力(电磁力、引力、弱核力和强核力)提供数学模型,实际上将粒子卷回到大爆炸时的原始对称状态。实验结果表明,电磁力和弱核力(导致核衰变,而不是将原子核结合在一起的强力)之间的区别在非常高的能级下消失,因此这两种力看起来就像一种力。
Although there are still many points of debate about the details of the origin of the universe, subatomic physics and astrophysics have tended to confirm the Big Bang model. The study of the very big (astronomy) and the very small (subatomic physics) also come together in theoretical efforts to create a “grand unified theory,” or GUT, that will provide the mathematical model for all four forces (electromagnetic, gravitational, weak nuclear, and strong nuclear), in effect rolling particles back to the original symmetrical condition at the Big Bang. Experimental results have shown that the distinction between the electromagnetic force and the weak nuclear force (which is responsible for nuclear decay, as opposed to the strong force that holds the atomic nucleus together) disappears at very high energy levels, so the two forces look like just one force.
20 世纪 70 年代,人们构想出了一种新工具,用于帮助寻找宇宙早期状态和演化的证据,并拓宽光学天文学。欧洲航天局和美国宇航局首次提出了太空望远镜的联合项目。哈勃太空望远镜以首次观察到宇宙膨胀的埃德温·哈勃的名字命名,于 1990 年 4 月 25 日随发现号航天飞机发射升空。它提供的图像不受大气扭曲的影响,尽管 1993 年光学系统的一个缺陷不得不在太空中得到纠正。哈勃望远镜提供大量数据,每天约 14,000 兆字节。(见图12.4。)鹰状星云是哈勃望远镜拍摄的最著名照片之一。
In the 1970s a new tool was conceived to help look for evidence of the early state and evolution of the universe as well as to broaden optical astronomy. A space-based telescope was first proposed as a joint project between the European Space Agency and NASA. The Hubble Space Telescope, named after Edwin Hubble who had first observed the expansion of the universe, was launched into orbit aboard the space shuttle Discovery on April 25, 1990. It provides images free of the distortion of the atmosphere, although a flaw in the optical system had to be corrected in space in 1993. The Hubble Telescope provides huge amounts of data, about 14,000 megabytes daily. (See figure 12.4.) The Eagle Nebula is one of the most famous pictures taken by the Hubble Telescope.
12.4鹰状星云(美国宇航局)
12.4 EAGLE NEBULA (NASA)
“这个物体看起来像是站在基座上的长翼童话生物,实际上是一座从鹰状星云升起的由冷气体和尘埃组成的巨塔。这座高耸的塔有 9.5 光年,即大约 90 万亿公里高,大约是太阳到最近恒星距离的两倍。鹰状星云中的恒星诞生于冷氢气云,这些云位于混乱的邻域中,年轻恒星的能量在气体中塑造出梦幻般的景观。这座塔可能是这些新生恒星的巨大孵化器。来自一群巨大、炽热的年轻恒星(图片顶部)的紫外线洪流正在侵蚀这座柱子。”
“Appearing like a winged fairy-tale creature poised on a pedestal, this object is actually a billowing tower of cold gas and dust rising from … the Eagle Nebula. The soaring tower is 9.5 light-years or about 90 trillion kilometers high, about twice the distance from our Sun to the nearest star. Stars in the Eagle Nebula are born in clouds of cold hydrogen gas that reside in chaotic neighborhoods, where energy from young stars sculpts fantasy-like landscapes in the gas. The tower may be a giant incubator for those newborn stars. A torrent of ultraviolent light from a band of massive, hot, young stars (off the top of the image) is eroding the pillar.”
资料来源:Yury Dmitrienko / Shutterstock.com。图片说明来自 NASA、ESA 和哈勃遗产团队 (STScI/AURA),https://esahubble.org/images/heic0506b/。
Source: Yury Dmitrienko / Shutterstock.com. Caption from NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), https://esahubble.org/images/heic0506b/.
尽管卡尔·萨根 (Carl Sagan) 的电视节目《宇宙》和斯蒂芬·霍金 (Stephen Hawking) 的畅销书《时间简史》 (1988)等人将亚原子粒子和宇宙的起源带入公众的视野,但公众的兴趣在 20 世纪 70 年代和 80 年代肯定又转移回了地球。其中一个主要原因是生态运动的兴起。我们今天所认为的环境保护主义并非新事物,而是可以追溯到 19 世纪保护荒野地区和限制水和空气污染的努力。甚至更早,从古埃及开始,社会就制定了关于用水、垃圾收集和人类排泄物处理的法律,这些法律以各种形式存在于城市中心出现的地方。然而,生态学的科学研究相对较晚。生物学往往首先研究个体生物,然后研究遗传学,而不是环境中的生物。同样,化学家关注的是化学品的受控使用,而不是不受控制的化学品的影响,而医生则接受过寻找特定病原体的培训,对人与环境的相互作用了解较少。
Although subatomic particles and the origin of the universe were brought to the attention of the public by people such as Carl Sagan and his television program Cosmos, and Stephen Hawking’s best-selling book A Brief History of Time (1988), public interest definitely shifted back to the home planet during the 1970s and 1980s. One of the key reasons for this was the rise of the ecological movement. What we think of today as environmentalism is not a new development but can be traced back to efforts in the nineteenth century to conserve wilderness areas and to limit water and air pollution. Even earlier, societies from the ancient Egyptians on had laws about water use, garbage collection, and human waste disposal, and these laws existed in various forms wherever urban centers appeared. Yet the scientific study of ecology came relatively late. Biology tended to look first at individual organisms and later at genetics, rather than the organism in the environment. Similarly, chemists were focused on the controlled use of chemicals, not on the effects of uncontrolled chemicals, while physicians were trained to look for particular pathogens and were less aware of the interaction of people with the environment.
1962 年,雷切尔·卡逊(1907-64 年)出版了《寂静的春天》 ,人类与环境之间密不可分的关系被强行摆到了公众面前。她的书面向大众,向大众介绍了环境污染问题,特别是杀虫剂使用问题。卡逊将自然描绘成一个环环相扣的系统,而不是一系列可以单独处理的独立组成部分。农民在农作物上喷洒 DDT 来控制昆虫,不仅让农作物接触到化学物质,还会将化学物质留在地里,在喷洒结束后很长一段时间内,它们可能会被它们想要保护的植物的组织和其他农作物吸收。这些浓度可能会累积起来,在土壤中停留很多年。
In 1962 the inseparable relationship between people and their environment was brought forcibly before the public when Rachel Carson (1907–64) published Silent Spring. Aimed at a popular audience, her book introduced many to the problem of environmental pollution, in particular, the problem of pesticide use. Carson pictured nature as an interlocked system rather than a series of independent components that could be treated individually. A farmer spraying DDT on crops to control insects was not just exposing the crops to the chemical but also leaving the chemicals in the ground where they could be absorbed into the tissues of the plants they were meant to protect and by other crops long after the spraying ended. These levels could build up, remaining in the soil for many years.
但农药的持久性并不是最糟糕的部分。这些化学物质进入食物链,在捕食者周期顶端的动物组织中积累得越来越高。植物污染了昆虫,昆虫又被鸣禽吃掉。有毒化学物质在鸣禽体内的浓度可能高到足以导致它们死亡或无法繁殖。它们的死亡是卡森书名的灵感来源。卡森认为,如果不采取行动,真的会迎来寂静的春天。鸣禽的死亡是农药造成的一系列危险影响之一,卡森列举了许多关于化学药剂的公然滥用、政府或制造商对农药长期影响缺乏科学研究以及无意或故意掩盖化学药剂管理不善的故事。例如,密歇根州官员在底特律部分地区喷洒了奥尔德林农药以控制日本甲虫。当喷洒飞机开始在没有任何事先警告的情况下飞行时,忧心忡忡的市民纷纷向市政府官员和联邦航空局打电话。市民们被告知喷洒是完全安全的,尽管美国公共卫生服务美国鱼类和野生动物管理局都曾发布过有关艾氏剂毒性的报告。大量鸟类死亡,而接触该化学物质的动物和人类则患病。
But the persistence of pesticides was not the worst part. The chemicals worked their way into the food chain, accumulating in higher and higher levels in the tissues of those animals at the top of the predator cycle. Plants contaminated insects, which in turn were eaten by songbirds. The concentration of toxic chemicals could grow so high in the songbirds that they would die or be unable to reproduce. Their death was the inspiration for the title of Carson’s book. If action was not taken, argued Carson, there could truly be a silent spring. The death of songbirds was one of a litany of dangerous effects caused by pesticides, and Carson presented numerous stories about the outright abuse of chemical agents, a lack of scientific study of the long-term effects of pesticides by either government or manufacturers, and inadvertent or deliberate cover-ups of mismanagement of chemical agents. For instance, the pesticide Aldrin was sprayed over parts of Detroit by Michigan state officials to control Japanese beetle. When the spray planes began to fly with no prior warning, concerned citizens flooded city officials and the Federal Aviation Agency with calls. Citizens were told that the spraying was completely safe, even though the American Public Health Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service both had published reports of the toxicity of Aldrin. Large numbers of birds died, while animals and humans exposed to the chemical got sick.
卡森的研究引起了公众的强烈共鸣,公众对科学带来的变化越来越不满,并对其力量心存恐惧。到 1969 年,公众对政府在环境问题上采取行动的支持已经足够多,美国通过了《国家环境政策法案》;1970 年,环境保护署 (EPA) 成立,以执行该立法以及《清洁空气法案》等其他法律。同年,环保署开始运作,庆祝了第一个地球日。它以抗议越南战争的运动的宣讲为基础,旨在让公众关注污染问题。这种公众兴趣也帮助立法者在 1972 年禁止使用杀虫剂 DDT。
Carson’s research struck a responsive chord with a public increasingly disenchanted with the changes brought about by science and fearful of its power. By 1969 there was enough popular support for government action on environmental concerns for the United States to pass the National Environmental Policy Act; in 1970 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was founded to enforce that legislation as well as other laws such as the Clean Air Act. In the same year the EPA started operating, the first Earth Day was celebrated. Based on the teach-ins of the movement protesting the war in Vietnam, it was designed to bring the issues of pollution to the public. Such public interest also helped legislators ban the pesticide DDT in 1972.
1978 年,拉夫运河事件曝光后,化学污染的危害进一步被公众所关注。拉夫运河是纽约州尼亚加拉瀑布的一个住宅开发项目,建在胡克化学公司于 1920 年至 1953 年间运营的化学废物倾倒场上或旁边。1976 年,居民开始抱怨难闻的气味和渗出的黑色或棕色污泥。1978 年,一场关于该社区安全的大战开始了。现场发现了有毒化学物质,包括二恶英,这是一种已知的强致癌物,但危险程度却成了争论的焦点,专家们对此各执一词。当总统吉米·卡特宣布该地点为联邦紧急区时,联邦政府介入,居民被重新安置。关于健康风险的主张和反诉至今仍在继续,一些环保主义者和科学家声称危险非常大,将这种环境破坏与癌症、流产和精子数量下降联系起来,不仅在拉夫运河,而且在全世界。其他科学家认为,没有确凿的证据表明健康问题有所增加,这再次表明可以找到支持反对立场的科学家。这样的争议往往证实了公众对“客观”科学答案的缺乏信任,而这些答案似乎是科学家首先制造的。
The dangers of chemical contamination were further thrust into public view when the Love Canal story broke in 1978. Love Canal was a residential development in Niagara Falls, New York, that had been built on or beside a chemical waste dump that the Hooker Chemical Company operated from 1920 to 1953. In 1976 residents began to complain about bad odors and oozing black or brown sludge. By 1978 a major battle over the safety of the neighborhood was underway. Toxic chemicals including dioxin, known to be a powerful carcinogen, were found on the site, but the degree of danger was very much at issue, with experts lining up on both sides of the case. The federal government stepped in when President Jimmy Carter declared the site a Federal Emergency zone, and the residents were relocated. Claims and counter-claims about the health risks continue to be made to this day, with some environmentalists and scientists claiming that the danger was very great, linking such environmental damage to cancer, miscarriage, and declines in sperm counts not just in Love Canal but worldwide. Other scientists have argued that there was no sound evidence of increased health problems, again showing that scientists could be found to support opposing positions. Such controversies tended to confirm the public’s lack of faith in an “objective” scientific answer about dangers that appeared to be created by scientists in the first place.
环保运动代表着科学探索和公众参与的交汇。一方面是生态斗士,他们认为任何科学信息都是可疑的,因为科学是违反自然的,科学家帮助破坏了自然。因此,只有直接采取行动阻止环境破坏才会有效果。另一方面是支持科学的团体和个人,他们包括科学乐观主义者和揭穿真相者,前者相信科学将解决许多环境问题,后者利用科学技能反驳他们认为基于伪科学的生态破坏主张。介于两者之间的是非政府组织,如塞拉俱乐部、污染调查和罗马俱乐部,以及政府组织,如环境保护署和世界卫生组织,它们试图利用科学来指出问题所在并支持解决问题的行动。
The environmental movement represents an intersection of scientific exploration and public participation. At one end of the spectrum are the eco-warriors for whom any scientific information is suspect because science is unnatural and scientists have helped make the destruction of nature possible. Therefore, only direct action to stop environmental destruction will do any good. At the opposite end are the pro-science groups and individuals who range from scientific optimists, who believe that science will solve many environmental problems, to the debunkers, who use their scientific skills to counter any claims of ecological damage they see as being based on bad science. In between are both nongovernmental organizations, such as the Sierra Club, Pollution Probe, and the Club of Rome, and governmental organizations, such as the EPA and the World Health Organization, that attempt to use science to indicate where problems exist and to support actions to solve them.
由于基因研究的发展,战后人类对环境的控制变得更加直接。DNA 结构的发现提供了直接操纵细胞活动控制机制的可能性,从而使我们能够改变并最终创造新的生命形式。它在转基因作物和食品方面具有商业潜力,同时也引发了现代优生学的反复出现的幽灵,而这种优生学正是通过直接操纵人类而实现的。
Human control of the environment became even more direct during the postwar period because of genetic research. The discovery of the structure of DNA offered the possibility of directly manipulating the control mechanism of cell activity, thereby giving us the ability to change and ultimately create new kinds of life forms. It has commercial possibilities in genetically altered crops and food, as well as invoking the recurring specter of modern eugenics made possible by the direct manipulation of humans.
自从沃森和克里克发现 DNA 结构以来,人们投入了数千小时的研究时间,研究 DNA 的功能,并研究如何操纵 DNA 赋予生物体新特性。在许多方面,揭示 DNA 的结构就像拿到一辆昂贵汽车的车主手册,却发现它是用密码写的。从观察中可以明显看出某些事情,但 DNA 的工作细节仍有待弄清楚。解码工作的核心是碱基对,即构成梯级的 at、cg 组合。碱基序列以某种方式控制着细胞功能。1961 年,悉尼·布伦纳 (1927-2019)、弗朗西斯·克里克和他们的团队提出,碱基可以以三个为一串(例如 ttg 和互补的 aac)的形式读取,他们称之为“密码子”。密码子使 RNA(核糖核酸,一种分子机器人)能够控制蛋白质的实际生产。他们将这些分子称为“转移 RNA”或 tRNA。
Since Watson and Crick uncovered the structure of DNA, thousands of research hours have been poured into studying its function and working out methods to manipulate it to give an organism new characteristics. In many ways uncovering the structure of DNA was like being given the owner’s manual to an expensive car and finding that it was written in code. Certain things were obvious from observation, but the details of how DNA worked still needed to be figured out. At the heart of the decoding effort were the base-pairs, the a-t, c-g combinations that made up the rungs of the ladder. Somehow, the sequence of bases controlled cell function. In 1961 Sydney Brenner (1927–2019), Francis Crick, and their team argued that the bases could be read in strings of three (such as t-t-g and the complementary a-a-c), which they call “codons.” Codons allowed RNA (ribonucleic acid, a kind of molecular robot) to control the actual production of proteins. They called the molecules “transfer RNA” or tRNA.
同年,布伦纳、弗朗索瓦·雅各布(1920-2013)和马修·梅塞尔森(1930-)发现了信使 RNA(mRNA),它将部分 DNA 的模式传送到核糖体,即细胞中的蛋白质合成位点。随着将信息从 DNA 转移到蛋白质生产的系统,细胞控制的方法得以揭示。(见图12.5。)
In the same year, Brenner, François Jacob (1920–2013), and Matthew Meselson (1930–) discovered messenger RNA (mRNA), which carries the pattern of part of the DNA to the ribosomes, the site of protein synthesis in the cell. With the system to transfer information from DNA to protein production, the method of cellular control was revealed. (See figure 12.5.)
12.5蛋白质组装
12.5 PROTEIN ASSEMBLY
这一发现开启了与 DNA 相互作用的可能性,首先通过确定巨大分子的哪些部分负责哪种酶或蛋白质链,然后让 DNA 做需要做的事情。分离出可以在特定位点切割 DNA 的限制性酶意味着可以单独观察 DNA 的各个部分。1970 年,汉密尔顿·史密斯 (1931-) 和肯特·威尔科克斯发现了第一把这样的分子手术刀,而 1971 年,人们首次尝试写出或测序碱基对,从λ病毒开始。由于病毒几乎不需要指令就能生存,因此它们是早期测序工作的合理选择。
This discovery opened up the possibility of interacting with DNA, first by identifying what parts of the huge molecule were responsible for what enzyme or protein chains, and then by getting DNA to do what was wanted. The isolation of restriction enzymes that could cut DNA at specific sites meant that parts of DNA could be looked at separately. The first of these molecular scalpels was identified by Hamilton Smith (1931–) and Kent Wilcox in 1970, while in 1971 the first attempt to write out or sequence base pairs started with the lambda virus. Since viruses need few instructions to live, they were the logical choice for early sequencing work.
到 1972 年,细胞控制技术已经得到充分理解,科学家可以开始操纵它们。斯坦利·科恩 (1922-2020)、赫伯特·博耶 (1936-) 和罗伯特·赫林 (1936-2006) 将外来 DNA 放入宿主生物体(在本例中为大肠杆菌),然后宿主生物体自我复制。这是重组 DNA 技术,也是 DNA 克隆的基础。1978 年,生长抑素成为第一种通过重组 DNA 技术生产的人类激素。
By 1972 the techniques of cellular control were well enough understood that scientists could begin manipulating them. Stanley Cohen (1922–2020), Herbert Boyer (1936–), and Robert Helling (1936–2006) placed foreign DNA in a host organism (in this case the bacterium E. coli), which then replicated itself. This was the technique of recombinant DNA, and it was the foundation of DNA cloning. In 1978 somatostatin became the first human hormone produced by recombinant DNA technology.
1977 年,弗雷德·桑格 (Fred Sanger,1918-2013) 介绍了 DNA 测序技术的链终止法,当时绘制人类基因组图谱这一大项目的所有理论要素都已准备就绪。这一想法自 DNA 结构被发现以来就一直存在,但该项目规模庞大,难度极大,而且记录或绘制碱基的工具也不够准确当时还没有可用的染色体。随着对解码的兴趣日益增长,新的工具和方法也应运而生,到 1983 年,许多实验室开始解码各种生物的染色体。大约在这个时候,美国能源部 (DOE) 正在考虑如何安置其各种生物研究人员。这些科学家中有很多都在卫生与环境研究办公室 (OHER),他们曾研究过核武器和核能计划的某些方面,研究辐射的生物效应,并从事细胞生物学的基础研究。到 1983 年,这些问题不再像以前那么紧迫,因此 DOE 正在寻找方法让他们从事其他项目。
When Fred Sanger (1918–2013) introduced his chain termination method for DNA sequencing technique in 1977, essentially all the theoretical elements were in place for the big project: mapping the human genome. This idea had been around since the discovery of the structure of DNA, but the sheer size of the undertaking made it prohibitively difficult, and the tools to record or map the bases accurately were not available. As interest in decoding grew, new tools and methods were developed, and by 1983 a number of labs began to decode chromosomes in a variety of organisms. At about this time the American Department of Energy (DOE) was considering what to do with its various biological researchers. These scientists, many of whom were in the Office of Health and Environmental Research (OHER), had worked on those aspects of the nuclear weapons and nuclear energy programs that looked at the biological effects of radiation as well as doing basic research on cellular biology. These were not as pressing concerns by 1983 as they had been earlier, and so the DOE was looking for ways to employ them on other projects.
1985 年,校长罗伯特·辛斯海默在加州大学圣克鲁斯分校召开会议,讨论绘制人类染色体中整个 DNA 碱基列表的可能性。人类基因组测序将是一个庞大的项目,因为估计有 30 亿个碱基,而测序一个碱基的平均成本约为 10 美元。然而,它的潜在好处是巨大的,从治愈疾病到延长寿命。与会者坚信技术和设备会得到改进,从而降低测序成本,因此对该项目的未来充满热情。同年,OHER 在新墨西哥州圣达菲举行了一次关于人类基因组计划可行性的会议,而詹姆斯·沃森在冷港研究中心举行了类似的会议。他们的结论是,绘制整个人类基因组图谱是可能的,也是可取的。这将是生物学界的曼哈顿计划,拥有庞大的团队、巨额资金、顶尖科学家,并可能带来改变世界的结果。最后,生物学家可以与物理学家争夺金钱和声望。
In 1985 Chancellor Robert Sinsheimer held a meeting at the University of California, Santa Cruz, to discuss the possibility of mapping the whole DNA list of bases in human chromosomes. The sequencing of the human genome would be a massive project, since there were an estimated 3 billion bases, and the average cost to sequence a base was about $10. Yet the potential benefits were enormous, from cures for disease to extended life. With the firm belief that techniques and equipment would improve, thus dropping the cost of sequencing, participants were enthusiastic about the future of the project. That same year OHER held a meeting at Santa Fe, New Mexico, on the feasibility of the Human Genome Initiative, while James Watson held a similar meeting at the Cold Harbor research center. Their conclusion was that the mapping of the entire human genome was both possible and desirable. It would be the Manhattan Project of biology, with big teams, big money, leading scientists, and a potentially world-changing result. At last, biologists could compete with physicists for money and prestige.
次年,美国能源部为一个试点项目拨款 530 万美元。然而,美国国立卫生研究院 (NIH) 也开始资助遗传学研究。鉴于该研究涉及医学和生物学方面,一些官员觉得美国能源部主持该项研究很奇怪,但美国能源部比美国国立卫生研究院有几个优势。美国能源部曾管理过许多大型多实验室研究项目,因此已为大型项目建立了管理基础设施。美国能源部还拥有大量资金和政治影响力。1988 年,美国能源部和美国国立卫生研究院签署协议,共同开展该项目,大部分冲突问题都得到了解决。随着人类基因组组织 (HUGO) 的成立,该项目成为国际项目,以协调国际研究。
The following year, the DOE allocated $5.3 million for a pilot project. However, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) also began to fund genetics research. Given the medical and biological aspects of the research, it seemed strange to some officials that the DOE was running the show, but it had several advantages over the NIH. It had operated many large multilaboratory research projects so had in place a management infrastructure for big projects. It also had a great deal of money and political clout. Most of the conflicting issues were resolved when the DOE and the NIH signed an agreement in 1988 to work together on the project, which became international when HUGO (the Human Genome Organization) was formed to coordinate international research.
1988 年是人类基因组计划 (HGP) 真正启动的一年,该计划由 DNA 结构的发现者之一詹姆斯·沃森 (James Watson) 领导,直到 1992 年。在他的领导下,HGP 取得了长足的进步。更好的计算机技术(包括硬件和软件)得到了开发,计算机自动化设备也被融入到研究中。这个项目不仅关心寻找密码。它还通过分配 3% 的拨款来资助基因研究的社会影响研究,解决了伦理和法律问题。1990 年,美国能源部向国会提交了提案。该提案名为《了解我们的基因遗传:美国人类基因组计划》,列出 5 年期每年 2 亿美元的预算,作为 15 年项目的第一阶段。
The year 1988 was the real start of the Human Genome Project (HGP), and it began with one of the discoverers of the structure of DNA at its head: James Watson, who held the position until 1992. Under his leadership, the HGP made great strides. Better computer technology, both hardware and software, was developed, and computer-automated equipment was integrated into research. The project was not only concerned with finding the code. It also addressed ethical and legal issues by allocating 3 per cent of grant money to fund research on the social implications of genetic research. In 1990 DOE submitted its proposal to Congress. Entitled Understanding Our Genetic Inheritance: The US Human Genome Project, it laid out a five-year budget of $200 million a year as the first phase of a 15-year project.
由于预算的很大一部分用于研究和技术开发,测序速度非常快。分析碱基的成本从每个 10 美元降至每个 10 美分。HGP 在四年内实现了其五年目标,到 1995 年,它已经拥有了 16 号和 19 号染色体的高分辨率图谱,以及 3 号、11 号、12 号和 22 号染色体的大片段图谱。次年,由世界上最大的医学研究私人资助者之一英国威康信托基金会赞助的大型 HGP 国际会议为该项目带来了更多关注。全球对 HGP 可能产生的伦理问题的担忧非常严重,以至于联合国教科文组织于 1997 年发布了《世界人类基因组与人权宣言》,试图就遗传信息的伦理使用达成国际共识。
Because a significant portion of the budget was dedicated to research and the development of technology, the speed at which the sequencing took place was remarkable. The cost of analyzing bases dropped from $10 each to 10¢ each. The HGP met its five-year goals in four years and by 1995 had high resolution maps of chromosomes 16 and 19, as well as large sections of 3, 11, 12, and 22. The following year a large international conference on the HGP, sponsored by the Wellcome Trust in Britain, one of the world’s largest private funders of medical research, brought even more attention to the project. Global concern about the potential ethical issues associated with the HGP were serious enough that in 1997 UNESCO released the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights, which attempted to provide international agreement on the ethical use of genetic information.
1999 年,人类基因组计划突破了 10 亿个碱基大关,随着机器人测序设备的进步,2001 年 2 月 12 日,人类基因组计划宣布已完成所谓的整个人类基因组“工作草案”。基因组序列于 2003 年完成,实际上结束了该项目的绘图部分,但仍需进行多年的分析和研究。这只是基于单个个体的总体图谱,而不是全人类的基因蓝图。虽然该图谱非常重要,但人类基因组计划的持久遗产将是为完成这一国际项目而创建的技术和工艺。
In 1999 the HGP passed the 1 billion base mark, and with new advances in robotic sequencing equipment, on February 12, 2001, the HGP announced that it had completed what it called the “working draft” of the entire human genome. The genome sequence was completed in 2003, effectively ending the mapping part of the project, but many years of analysis and research remain to be done. This is only a general map based on a single individual, not a genetic blue print for all humanity. While the map is hugely important, the lasting legacy of the HGP will be the techniques and technology that were created to do this international project.
基因(DNA 中实际控制细胞活动的功能部分)的数量比一些科学家预期的要少,但他们已经破译了人类有机体的使用手册。利用重组技术和克隆技术,科学家还可以将细菌和高等生物变成生物工厂,生产药物或其他有用产品。然而,要理解为什么重组遗传学的发展不仅仅是一项重要的科学发展,必须将实验室工作与两项重要的法律判决结合起来阅读:Diamond v. Chakrabarty和John Moore v. The Regents of the University of California。这两个案例并不是唯一涉及遗传物质的法律事件,但它们说明了为什么会出现一种遗传学淘金热。
There were fewer genes, the functional parts of DNA that actually controlled cellular activity, than some scientists had anticipated, but they had decoded the owner’s manual to the human organism. With recombinant technology and cloning, scientists could also turn bacteria and higher organisms into biological factories to produce drugs or other useful products. However, to understand why the development of recombinant genetics was more than an important scientific development, the laboratory work must be read along with two significant legal decisions: Diamond v. Chakrabarty and John Moore v. The Regents of the University of California. These two cases are not the only legal events concerning genetic material, but they illustrate why a kind of genetics gold rush developed.
1980 年 6 月 16 日,美国最高法院在Diamond v. Chakrabarty案中裁定被告胜诉。最高法院裁定,由 Diamond 代表的专利商标局 (USPTO) 拒绝向通用电气的微生物学家 Ananda Chakrabarty 授予专利的决定是错误的。该案之所以如此重要,是因为 Chakrabarty 的专利是一种经过基因改造的微生物,这种微生物“吞噬”了原油的一部分,将其转化为无害的副产品,以清理漏油。实际上,最高法院裁定这种微生物不是自然产生的,而是一种新的、有用的“物质组成”。最高法院以五比四的投票结果支持该专利,结果非常接近。尽管最高法院为生物体授予专利提供了相当狭窄的机会,但它仍然承认了现代基因专利的合法性,基因商业的竞争由此拉开帷幕。最高法院的裁决推翻了美国专利商标局长期以来拒绝授予生物专利的政策。1由于美国专利商标局已成为事实上的专利登记地,美国专利规则的政策变化对每个人都具有深远的影响。国际专利协议承认在一个国家授予的专利保护在所有签署国都有效。
On June 16, 1980, the Supreme Court of the United States decided in favor of the respondent in the case of Diamond v. Chakrabarty. It ruled that the Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO), represented by Commissioner Diamond, was incorrect in its decision to deny a patent to Ananda Chakrabarty, a microbiologist working for General Electric. What made the case so important was that Chakrabarty’s patent was for a microbe that he had genetically modified so that it “ate” parts of crude oil, converting them into harmless by-products in order to clean up oil spills. In effect, the Supreme Court ruled that the microbe was not naturally occurring and was a new and useful “composition of matter.” The decision was a close one, going five to four in favor of the patent. Although the Court offered a fairly narrow window for the patenting of living organisms, it nonetheless granted the legality of modern genetic patents, and the race was on for genetic commerce. The decision overturned the long-standing policy of the USPTO of denying patents on living things.1 Since the USPTO had become the de facto venue of record for patents, a policy change in the American patent rules had far-reaching implications for everyone. International patent agreements recognized the protection of patents granted in one country as being valid in all signatory countries.
美国专利商标局一直拒绝为生物申请专利,直到 1987 年才发布正式政策声明,允许为非人类多细胞生物申请专利。这在一定程度上是对 Chakrabarty 判决和其他案件的回应,但这也是为了促进基因研究而做出的改变。许多研究人员、大学和私营公司认为,如果没有专利保护,人们进行基因研究的动力就会减弱,其他国家可能会在该领域获得优势。
The USPTO continued to deny patents on living things until 1987 but then issued a formal policy statement allowing the patenting of nonhuman multicellular living organisms. This was partly in response to the Chakrabarty decision and other cases, but it was also a change to promote genetic research. Many researchers, universities, and private companies had argued that without patent protection there would be less incentive to do genetic research and other countries might gain an advantage in the area.
哈佛小鼠(又名癌鼠)是第一批获得专利的“高等”生物之一。这种小鼠经过基因改造,更容易患癌症,并作为癌症研究工具出售。它的创造者于 1988 年获得了美国专利。2
Among the first “higher” organisms to be patented was the Harvard mouse, also known as Oncomouse. This mouse was genetically modified to be more susceptible to cancer, and it was sold as a tool for cancer research. Its creators were granted an American patent in 1988.2
第二个重要案例是约翰·摩尔诉加利福尼亚大学董事会。约翰·摩尔患有一种特殊类型的白血病,1980 年在加州大学洛杉矶分校医学中心接受治疗并切除了脾脏。他还被要求多次返回进行检查并提供其他类型的组织样本。摩尔的医生认为他的组织或细胞系可能对研究非常有用,因此他们从他的脾脏和其他样本中开发了研究材料。1981 年,他们申请并获得了他的细胞系专利,随后将其用于商业销售。三年后,摩尔发现他的细胞已申请专利并在未经他知情、同意或经济回报的情况下出售,因此他提起诉讼。1990 年,加利福尼亚州最高法院对此案作出裁决并有效驳回了诉讼。
The second important case was John Moore v. The Regents of the University of California. John Moore, who suffered from a particular type of leukemia, was treated at the UCLA Medical Center in 1980 and had his spleen removed. He was also asked to return several times for tests and to give other kinds of tissue samples. Moore’s doctors felt that his tissues or cell lines might be extremely useful for research, so they developed research material from his spleen and the other samples. In 1981 they applied for and were granted a patent on his cell line, which was then sold commercially. Three years later Moore discovered that his cells were patented and being sold without his knowledge, consent, or financial return, so he sued. In 1990 the Supreme Court of California ruled on the case and effectively denied the suit.
这项裁决宣称,在加利福尼亚州,一旦细胞离开人体,它们就不再属于原主人,任何得到这些细胞的人都可以声称它们是自己的财产。对许多人来说,这项裁决在多个层面上似乎都很荒谬。首先,如果一个人在一场可怕的事故中失去了一只手(一组细胞),而有人过来把这只手拿走,那显然是偷窃;然而,在Moore v. Regents一案中,法院裁定研究人员拿走细胞并不违法。其次,加州大学洛杉矶分校的律师辩称,这是允许研究人员收集和使用遗传物质符合公众利益,但如果研究人员必须追踪并补偿材料的原始来源,则违反公众利益。增加的成本和工作将阻碍研究。因此,他们的论点似乎是,大学和私营公司从遗传研究中获利对公众利益有利,但公众(遗传物质的来源)从遗传研究中获利则不利于公众利益。
This ruling declared that in California, once cells were out of a person’s body, they no longer belonged to the person they came from and that anyone who got them could claim them as their own property. To many, the ruling seemed absurd on several levels. First, if a person lost a hand (a collection of cells) in some terrible accident and someone came along and took the hand away, that would clearly be theft; yet, in Moore v. Regents, the court ruled that researchers taking cells were not doing anything illegal. Second, the UCLA lawyers argued that it was in the public interest to allow genetic material to be collected and used by researchers but that it would be against the public interest if those researchers had to keep track of and compensate the original source of the material. The added cost and work would inhibit research. Thus, their argument seemed to be that it was good for the public interest that universities and private companies profit from genetic research, but it was bad for the public interest that the public (the source of the genetic material) profit from genetic research.
1998 年,冰岛政府决定将冰岛人民的全部遗传基因出售(或者更准确地说是出租)给一家私人公司,这一决定引发了人们对遗传学的诸多担忧。遗传学研究人员 Kari Stefansson 创立了 deCODE 公司,并提议建立冰岛卫生部门数据库 (IHD),部分资金来自制药公司 Roche 的 2 亿美元。该数据库将包括数百年前的家谱记录和自 1915 年开始的公共卫生记录,以及几乎所有冰岛人的遗传信息。冰岛成为研究的良好对象有几个原因。人口相对较少,约为 275,000 人,而且相对同质。虽然冰岛是一个小国,但它是一个第一世界国家,拥有普遍识字率和高水平的普通教育和公共医疗保健,以及世界上最悠久的议会传统。可追溯到挪威时代的大量家谱记录使研究人员能够从历史上识别遗传群体,并将其与当前人口的遗传信息相关联。
A flashpoint for many of the concerns about genetics was the decision in 1998 by the Icelandic government to sell, or perhaps more correctly lease, the entire genetic heritage of the Icelandic people to a private company. Kari Stefansson, a genetic researcher, established the company deCODE and, in part funded by $200 million from the pharmaceutical company Roche, proposed the creation of the Iceland Health Sector Database (IHD). This database would include genealogical records going back hundreds of years and public health records starting in 1915, as well as genetic information on almost all Icelanders. Iceland made a good target of study for several reasons. The population is relatively small, around 275,000 people, and relatively homogeneous. Although a tiny country, it is a First World nation with universal literacy and a high level of general education and public health care, as well as the longest parliamentary tradition in the world. The extensive genealogical records that reach back to the Norse era allow researchers to identify genetic groups historically and to correlate them with genetic information from the current population.
该项目的支持者认为,冰岛从 deCODE 的活动中获益匪浅,获得了资金、高科技研究设施、遗传信息,以及免费使用可能来自 IHD 信息的任何药物或疗法。反对者则认为,政府已经超越了权限,通过收集信息侵犯了人权(事实上,政府禁止公民私下出售遗传信息),并且用于保护患者隐私的隐私系统存在问题,因为 DNA 从定义上讲就是完美的标识符。政府已经赋予自己收集和使用遗传信息的权利,就好像遗传信息与驾驶执照、人口普查数据或纳税申报单上的信息没有区别一样。
Supporters of the project argued that Iceland benefits from deCODE’s activities by getting money, high-technology research facilities, genetic information, and free access to any drugs or therapies that might arise from the information in the IHD. Detractors argue that the government has overstepped its authority and thus violated human rights by collecting the information (and in fact outlawing the private sale of genetic information by individual citizens) and that there are problems with the privacy system used to protect patient confidentiality, since DNA is by definition the perfect identifier. The government has allocated to itself the right to gather and use genetic information as if it were no different than information for a driver’s license, census data, or tax returns.
尽管斯蒂芬森的项目雄心勃勃,但它缺乏明确的商业模式。2012 年,deCODE 陷入财务困境,从未盈利,被总部位于加州的生物制药公司安进收购。deCODE 的遗传系统和数据库部分随后于 2013 年出售给药明康德。冰岛的 deCODE Genetics 继续作为安进的子公司,继续寻找疾病的遗传标记。
As ambitious as Stefansson’s project was, it lacked a clear business model. In 2012 deCODE was in financial trouble having never turned a profit and was purchased by Amgen, a biopharmaceutical company based in California. The genetics system and database part of deCODE was then sold to WuXi PharmaTech in 2013. deCODE Genetics of Iceland continues as a subsidiary company of Amgen, continuing the search for genetic markers for disease.
从更广泛意义上讲,一些评论家指出,IHD 提供的不仅仅是一种疾病检测工具,而且是“正常”人类的基准。一些批评家认为,健康、金发碧眼的冰岛人可能是人类外貌的潜在模型。这种恐惧在许多科幻恐怖故事中都有体现,例如电影《千钧一发》(1997 年),而基因研究的支持者则对此不屑一顾,认为从技术角度来看不太可能,而且在社会上也是不受欢迎的。基因学的社会影响,无论是改良的油菜还是人类,都为一些人提供了可怕的未来愿景,而为另一些人提供了通过控制自然而实现的潜在乌托邦未来。
In a wider sense, some commentators have pointed out that what the IHD provides is not just a tool for the detection of disease but a baseline for what is a “normal” human. The healthy, blond-haired, blue-eyed Icelanders strike some critics as a potential model for human appearance. This fear, played out in any number of science fiction horror stories such as the film Gattaca (1997), has in turn been dismissed by supporters of genetic research as both unlikely from a technical point of view and socially undesirable. The social implications of genetics, whether modified canola or human beings, offer a frightening vision of the future for some and a potentially utopian future through the mastery of nature to others.
无论是计算机的强大功能还是基因革命的潜力,到二十世纪末,科学的实用性已经以最直接的方式被人们认识到。科学与社会如今密不可分。公众已经开始期待科学能够生产出日益富裕的社会所追求的消费品,而随着晶体管和计算机等许多此类商品的诞生,新的研究工具和探究途径也已打开。对自然界的科学研究帮助环保主义者将地球视为一个封闭的生态系统,并主张更好地管理环境。与此同时,科学已经开发出新的理念和技术来操纵我们应该保护的自然。无论好坏,我们现在生活在一个科学观点优先于大多数其他认识世界的方式的世界。科学以一种非常现实的方式创造了我们生活的世界,并永远改变了它。
Whether it is the power of computers or the potential of the genetic revolution, the utility of science had been brought home in the most direct way by the end of the twentieth century. Science and society are now inexorably intertwined. The public has come to expect that science will produce the consumer goods being sought by an increasingly affluent society, and in the creation of many of those goods, such as the transistor and the computer, new tools for research and avenues of inquiry have been opened. Scientific investigation of the natural world helped environmentalists think about the planet as a closed ecosystem and argue for better stewardship of the environment. At the same time, science has developed new ideas and techniques for manipulating that very nature we are supposed to be preserving. For good or ill, we now live in a world where the scientific point of view takes precedence over most other ways of knowing the world. Science has, in a very real way, made the world we live in and changed it forever.
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1.美国专利商标局的警察也并非毫无例外,因为路易斯·巴斯德在 1873 年就获得了一种酵母的专利。
1. The USPTO police was not without exception, since a patent had been granted to Louis Pasteur for a type of yeast in 1873.
2.2002年,加拿大最高法院驳回了“哈佛鼠”的专利申请,理由是高等生命形式不能被视为新发明。
2. In 2002 the Supreme Court of Canada denied an application for a patent on the “Harvard mouse,” arguing that higher life forms could not be considered new inventions.
1995 年,自然法党派出约翰·哈格林参加美国总统大选,哈格林是超觉冥想的信徒,拥有哈佛大学物理学博士学位。竞选期间,该党以科学手段证明了超觉冥想能给动荡的世界带来和平。5000 多名信徒齐聚华盛顿特区进行冥想,目的是给这个暴力频发的城市带来和平。一年后,该党公布了一项研究,该研究“科学”证明,由于冥想者散发出爱与和谐的浪潮,华盛顿确实更加和平。当有人指出,示威期间该市的犯罪率实际上远高于正常水平时,该党为其研究辩护,理由是如果没有冥想者,犯罪率会更高。
In 1995 the Natural Law Party ran candidate John Hagelin, a Transcendental Meditation disciple with a doctorate in physics from Harvard University, in the American presidential election. During the campaign the party offered a scientific demonstration of the power of Transcendental Meditation to bring peace to a troubled world. More than 5,000 disciples gathered in Washington, DC, to meditate, with the purpose of bringing peace to a notoriously violent city. A year later the party released a study that “scientifically” proved that Washington had indeed been more peaceful because of the waves of love and harmony projected by the meditators. When it was pointed out that the crime rate in the city during the demonstration was actually much higher than normal, the party defended its study on the basis that, without the meditators, the crime rate would have been even higher.
瑜伽和平波的例子凸显了 21 世纪初科学的力量和问题。由于我们已经开始接受甚至期待科学会带来奇妙的发现,因此只要这些发现带有科学术语,或得到自称拥有科学资质的人的支持,就更容易做出荒唐甚至欺诈性的发现声明。如果一个拥有物理学博士学位的人说某件事是科学证明的,那么公众难道不应该接受这个说法的真实性吗?毕竟,还有什么比物理学博士学位更高的科学专业知识标准呢?
The case of the yogic peace waves highlights the power and problem of science at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Because we have come to accept and even expect wondrous things to come from science, it has become easier to make wild or even fraudulent claims of discovery so long as the claim is draped in scientific terms or supported by someone who claims to have scientific credentials. If a person with a PhD in physics says something is scientifically proven, shouldn’t the general public accept the reality of the claim? After all, what higher standard of scientific expertise is there than a doctoral degree in physics?
我们对科学是什么以及科学如何与社会互动的理解已经发生了根本性的变化。对希腊人来说,研究自然是精英阶层的事情,科学是一种高度控制的活动,由一小群知识分子以哲学和宗教为目标进行。对于生活在二十一世纪的人们来说,科学是一种公共活动,已成为政治、经济和社会变革的强大工具。科学取得了如此巨大的成功,以至于人们试图将自己与科学联系起来,即使科学很少或根本没有被实际使用。当自然法党或化妆品制造商声称自己是科学的代表时,他们希望这种联系能给他们提供的产品增添一种真实性和可靠性。这种“通过联系推广”模糊了公众对科学的理解,常常到了“科学”一词被贬低为类似于“新鲜”或“有益健康”的广告标签的地步。
Our understanding of what science is and how it interacts with our society has been fundamentally altered. For the Greeks, the study of nature was an elite, highly controlled activity, undertaken by a tiny intellectual cadre with philosophical and religious objectives. For people living in the twenty-first century, science is a public activity that has become an incredibly powerful tool for political, economic, and social change. The success of science has been so great that people seek to link themselves with it even when there is little or no actual science being used. When the Natural Law Party or the makers of cosmetics claim the mantle of science they are hoping that the association will lend an air of truth and reliability to what they are offering. This “promotion by association” clouds the public understanding of science, often to the point where the word “science” is reduced to an advertising tag similar to “fresh” or “wholesome.”
这种变化是如何发生的?渐渐地,国家领导人——王子和政府——开始认识到科学和科学家的实用性,它们要么能提升他们作为文化和知识领袖的地位,要么能增强他们的军事和经济实力以及福祉。16 世纪的自然哲学家为欧洲王室提供了地位和奇观,他们是当今政府和军方资助的曼哈顿计划和大科学的直系祖先。科学家自己也为这种转变做出了贡献,即使事实并非如此,他们也主张他们的研究是有用的。在这里,早期皇家学会声明的修辞和现代资助申请的修辞之间的相似之处很有启发性。资助机构想知道他们能从这种关系中得到什么,以换取他们提供的金钱和人脉。随着科学家权力的增强,与科学联系的价值也在增加。
How did this change take place? Gradually, state leaders – princes and governments – began to see the utility of science and scientists, either to elevate their status as cultural and intellectual leaders or to boost their military and economic power and well-being. Sixteenth-century natural philosophers, providing status and spectacle for European princely courts, are the linear ancestors of the Manhattan Project and Big Science funded by the government and military today. Scientists themselves contributed to this transformation, arguing for the usefulness of their investigations even when this was not the case. Here, the parallel between the rhetoric of early Royal Society statements and that of modern grant applications is instructive. Granting agencies want to know what they will get out of the relationship in exchange for the money and connections they offer. As the power of scientists has increased, so has the value of association with science.
然而,科学的成功也招致了强烈的反对。虽然一直有人因为宗教原因而拒绝科学,但如今,出于政治原因或更广泛的意识形态原因而拒绝科学的人越来越多。一些科学否定者拒绝特定的科学观点,如吸烟是癌症或气候变化的原因,而另一些人则拒绝科学知识的前提。例如,地球是平的这一观点的支持者或反疫苗运动者拒绝客观知识的概念。对他们来说,个人感受比任何经过测试的数据都重要。除了拒绝现实世界之外,还常常存在一系列相关的阴谋论,在这些阴谋论中,医生、科学家、政府和“主流”媒体达成了某种秘密协议,以使公众保持无知。
Yet the very success of science has created a backlash. Although there have always been people who reject science on religious grounds, today there is a growing number who reject science for political or more broadly, ideological reasons. Some science deniers reject specific scientific ideas such as smoking as a cause of cancer or climate change, while others reject the very premise of scientific knowledge. For example, supporters of the idea of a flat earth or the anti-vaccination movement reject the concept of objective knowledge. For them, personal feelings are superior to any body of tested data. In addition to the rejection of the real world, there is often an associated set of conspiracy theories in which doctors, scientists, governments, and the “mainstream” media have some secret agreement to keep the public ignorant.
因此,科学的这种转变的结果具有矛盾性。一方面,21 世纪的科学有能力以我们难以想象的方式改变我们的生活和我们对宇宙的理解。另一方面,巨大的资源科学家现在拥有的资源、他们可以使用的工具以及社会普遍相信科学的益处,这些因素都有助于产生令人着迷和意义重大的科学成果。另一方面,科学的成功也导致了一种轻信,使得科学骗子可以肆无忌惮地兜售他们的产品,越来越多的人对科学产生了极大的恐惧,以至于拒绝将科学作为一种产生可靠知识的方式。
The result of this transformation of science is thus paradoxical. On the one hand, twenty-first-century science has the power to transform our lives and our understanding of the universe in ways we can barely imagine. The huge resources now available to scientists, the tools at their disposal, and society’s belief in the beneficence of science in general all contribute to the potential flowering of fascinating and significant scientific results. On the other hand, the success of science has led to a credulity that allows scientific charlatans to flog their wares with impunity and to a growing number of people whose fear of science is so great they reject science as a way of producing reliable knowledge.
科学的力量、对科学滥用的合理担忧以及对科学原理的轻信误解都是科学革命以来科学胜利的结果。现在的挑战是扩大我们对科学理念的理解,并运用我们明智的判断来改善世界并保证世界安全。
The power of science, the legitimate concern about its misuse, and a gullible misunderstanding of scientific principles are all the result of the triumph of science since the scientific revolution. The challenge now will be to expand our understanding of the idea of science and to use our informed judgment to improve the world and keep it safe.
我们可以从谈论科学的行为中看到科学在社会中的转变,而科学已经变得更加复杂。“科学”一词已被重新定义。虽然它从未有一个普遍接受的定义,但它曾被普遍认为仅指对物质世界及其研究工具和方法的研究。现在,该术语已成为对任何深奥或专业知识的一般指示。在短语中添加“科学”通常是为了使它所附加的任何内容看起来更确定、更有见地、更真实或更有用。短语“护发科学”、“商业管理科学”、“政治科学”或“由顶尖科学家创造”试图将产品与科学理念联系起来,即使在最低限度的审查下,它们与科学没有任何实际或历史联系。
One of the ways we can see the transformation of science in our society is in the act of talking about science, which has become more complicated. The term “science” has been remade. While it has never had a universally accepted definition, it once was commonly regarded as referring only to the study of the physical world and the tools and methods of that study. The term has now become a general indicator of a claim for any profound or specialized knowledge. Adding “science” to a phrase is often an attempt to make whatever it is attached to seem more certain, insightful, true, or useful. The phrases “science of hair care,” “the science of business management,” “political science,” or “created by a leading scientist” attempt to tie a product to the idea of science, even if under minimal scrutiny there is no practical or historical link to science whatsoever.
甚至在皇家学会和法国科学院的成员开始推广科学效用的概念作为其组织存在的理由之前,科学效用就已经是研究精神中不可或缺的一部分。赞助者在聘用自然哲学家时寻求的不仅仅是哲学见解,而且,就像科西莫大公爵一样,我们也开始期待科学提供的不仅仅是深奥的知识。过去 400 年来,科学的成功利用得到了如此有力的证明,以至于现在各国忽视科学将自食其果。科学改变了战争的进程,帮助各国经济振兴,改变了性别关系。科学现在与国家的成功如此紧密地联系在一起,以至于它成为所有工业化国家和许多其他国家的必修教育科目。每个孩子都必须学习科学才能获得生产性就业和成为好公民。科学教育的整合程度是区分发达国家和发展中国家的指标之一。
Even before the members of the Royal Society and the Académie des Sciences began to promote the concept of the utility of science as a justification for the existence of their organizations, the utility of science had been integral to the ethos of research. Patrons were looking for more than philosophical insight when they employed natural philosophers, and, like Grand Duke Cosimo, we have come to expect science to provide more than esoteric knowledge. The successful exploitation of science has been demonstrated so powerfully over the last 400 years that nations now neglect it at their peril. It has changed the course of wars, helped raise up countries economically, and changed gender relations. Science is now so closely linked to the success of nations that it is a mandatory subject of education in all industrialized nations and many others. Every child must learn science to gain productive employment and to be a good citizen. The degree of integration of science education is one indicator of what separates the developed from the developing world.
科学已经如此广泛地渗透到工业社会,以至于很难区分什么是科学,甚至很难区分谁是“科学家”。虽然我们很容易承认诺贝尔科学奖获得者是科学家,但这一类别是否包括那些拥有高学位但没有进行原创研究的人,比如纯度控制化学家或在华尔街工作的物理学家?医生接受了大量科学培训,那么全科医生是科学家吗?还是这个术语仅适用于医学研究人员?心理分析学家、顺势疗法医生、计算机程序员和社会学家都曾一度声称自己是科学家地位。一位古人类学家和一位文化人类学家可能在一所大学的同一个系里工作,但他们都是科学家吗?显然,职业范围从“非常科学”到“不需要科学”,但声称拥有科学地位的人数和范围已经大大扩大。
Science has been so broadly injected into industrial society that it is difficult to distinguish what science is and even who is a “scientist.” While we readily acknowledge the science Nobel Prize winners as scientists, does the category include people with advanced degrees who do no original research, such as purity control chemists or physicists who work on Wall Street? Physicians receive a great deal of scientific training, so are general practitioners scientists or does the term apply only to medical researchers? Psychoanalysts, homeopaths, computer programmers, and sociologists have at one time or another claimed scientist status. A hominid paleobiologist and a cultural anthropologist may work in the same department at a university, but are they both scientists? Clearly, there is a spectrum of careers from “very scientific” to “no science required,” but the range and number of people claiming science status has expanded enormously.
“科学就是科学家所做的事情”这一功能性定义在现代社会已经开始瓦解,而且随着越来越多的人宣称自己是科学家,这一趋势将在未来进一步瓦解。这将使科学问题的明智选择问题变得更加困难。在人类历史上科学家数量最多、科学教学最广泛的时代,科学知识的概念本身可能会变得混乱。声称提供科学见解的人数量已经很多,因此在各种社会重要问题上经常会出现相互矛盾的“专家”意见。无论是在谋杀案审判中还是在有关全球变暖的辩论中,具有同等资格的科学专家可能会提出截然相反的意见。随着科学对社会产生越来越大的直接影响,越来越多的人可以声称自己在做科学,我们看到对科学思想的误解或歪曲越来越多。此外,以科学为幌子的彻头彻尾的欺诈变得更加容易。任何科学知识的差距都可以被视为科学的失败,并被用作拒绝科学的理由。
The functional definition that “science is what scientists do” has started to break down in the modern world and will break down even more in the future as the trend to claim scientific status by a wider and wider range of people continues. This will make the problem of informed choices about scientific issues even harder. In the era of the greatest number of working scientists and the widest teaching of science in human history, the very concept of scientific knowledge can become muddled. The number of people claiming to offer scientific insight has become legion, so there is frequently conflicting “expert” opinion on a variety of socially important issues. Whether it is in a murder trial or a debate about global warming, scientific experts with equivalent credentials may offer diametrically opposed opinions. As science has had a greater direct effect on society and more people can claim to be doing science, we have seen a rise in the misunderstanding, or misrepresentation, of scientific ideas. Further, outright fraud cloaked as science has become easier. Any gap in scientific knowledge can then be held up as a failure of science and used as a rationale for rejecting science.
政府、行业和普通民众都相信科学应该创造奇迹。有些奇迹是巨大的,比如发现胰岛素可以治疗糖尿病,拯救了数百万人的生命;而其他一些突破则很小,通常不被公众注意,比如发现一种类似于鳄鱼和海豚杂交的新鱼龙物种。两个有望带来对人类生活产生直接影响的重大发现的领域是基因检测和治疗以及纳米技术的材料革命。虽然每个领域都具有带来巨大利益的潜力,但每个领域也都存在应用方面的担忧,尤其是改变人类状况的伦理问题。
Governments, industries, and ordinary people all believe that science should do wondrous things. Some of the miracles are big, such as the discovery of insulin to treat diabetes, saving millions of lives, while other breakthroughs are small and often go unnoticed by the general public, such as the discovery of a new species of ichthyosaur that resembles a cross between a crocodile and a dolphin. Two areas that promise major discoveries that have a direct effect on human life are genetic testing and therapy, and the materials revolution in nanotechnology. While each offers the potential for great benefits, each also carries with it concerns about application, especially ethical issues about transforming the human condition.
基因检测在某种程度上是其他疾病检测形式的延续。无论是培养血液以发现病原体的存在,还是观察组织样本以寻找癌症的迹象,基因检测的第一阶段都是基于寻找某些问题的指标。例如,1983 年,詹姆斯·古塞拉 (James Gusella,1952-) 和他的团队将亨廷顿氏病确定为 4 号染色体上的遗传异常。随着映射的改进,可以识别的问题位点数量急剧增加。目前已有数百种针对囊性纤维化、泰-萨克斯病、唐氏综合症等疾病的检测。现在的检测非常精确,治疗方法非常具体,以至于它们为一种称为“个性化医疗”或“精准医疗”的新形式或药物打开了大门。利用测试结果和遗传信息,可以创建针对患者的独特治疗方法。与早期抗生素的“一针见血”治疗不同,为特定患者设计的定制药物和基因黑客正在变得可能和实用。
Genetic testing is, in some ways, a continuation of other forms of testing for diseases. Whether it is culturing blood to discover the presence of a disease organism or looking at tissue samples for signs of cancer, the first stage of genetic testing was based on looking for an indicator of some problem. For example, in 1983 James Gusella (1952–) and his team identified Huntington’s disease as a genetic anomaly on chromosome 4. As mapping has improved, the number of problem sites that can be identified has increased dramatically. Hundreds of tests now exist for diseases such as cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs, Down syndrome, and many others. Tests are now so precise and therapies so specific that they have opened the door to a new form or medicine called “personalized medicine” or “precision medicine.” With test results and genetic information treatments unique to the patient can be created. Rather than the “one shot for all” treatment of early antibiotics, custom-made medicine and gene hacks designed for a specific patient are becoming possible and practical.
检测不仅能揭示现有状况,还能揭示患病的可能性。这意味着,例如,一个人患某种癌症的风险可能较高,尽管这并非必然。这引发了伦理问题,因为基因检测可用于制定公共卫生政策,或者在更个人的层面上,被健康保险公司用来根据一个人患遗传相关疾病的可能性来确定保险费用。
Testing is also starting to reveal not only existing conditions but also the potential for disease. This means that a person might, for example, have an elevated risk of getting a particular kind of cancer, although it is not a certainty. This raises ethical questions, since genetic testing could be used to formulate public health policy or on a more individual level be used by health insurance companies to determine the cost of coverage based on the likelihood of a person being affected by genetically linked diseases.
关于测试所有权也存在道德问题。由于基因可以申请专利,基于某些基因系的测试已成为私有财产。专利持有者迫使实验室(包括医学检测实验室和研究实验室)为某些测试付费或停止进行测试,这并不是因为设备甚至技术被无偿使用,而是因为特定遗传物质的所有权。谁拥有全球的遗传物质正引起激烈争论,特别是在遗传物质是从土著人民那里收集的情况下,土著人民可能被告知也可能不知道其潜在用途。
There is also an ethical issue regarding the ownership of tests. Since genes can be patented, tests based on certain gene lines have become private property. Patent holders have forced laboratories, both medical testing labs and research labs, to pay fees for certain tests or stop doing them, not because equipment or even techniques are being used without compensation, but because of ownership of specific genetic material. Who owns the genetic material of the globe is being hotly debated, especially in cases where the genetic material has been gathered from Indigenous people, who may or may not have been informed of its potential use.
对广大人群进行基因检测也已成为可能,这引发了隐私与社会利益以及谁有权获取信息的问题。如果医疗保健提供者掌握了一般人群的基因信息,他们可能能够更合理地规划服务,但这种广泛的测试也可能被用来拒绝为可能出现昂贵健康问题的人提供保险。雇主是否应该被允许对员工进行测试,以了解他们是否可能生病?潜在的父母是否应该在生孩子之前进行筛查?同样,许多研究人员声称,行为与基因有关,因此基因测试可能被用来识别更容易上瘾或犯罪的人。虽然这听起来像一个糟糕的科幻故事,但我们拥有创建整个国家人口的大规模基因数据库的技术,就像冰岛所做的那样(见第 12 章),而且它只受到计算机存储容量的限制。此外,基因图谱已经变得如此便宜,以至于公司现在向公众出售测试套件,声称可以告诉你你的血统和(在允许的情况下)潜在的健康问题。这些商业测试提出了另一个问题:谁拥有遗传信息,因为测试公司会保留和汇总测试结果并推销这些信息。在这种情况下,购买这些测试的人(通常是作为礼物送给别人)实际上并不是消费者,而是被推销给其他人的产品。
Genetic testing of a wide population has also been made possible, raising issues of privacy versus social benefit and of who has the right to information. Health care providers might be able to plan more rationally for services if they had genetic information about the general population, but such broad testing might also be used to deny insurance to people likely to develop costly health problems. Should employers be allowed to test employees to see if they are likely to get sick? Should potential parents be screened before they have children? Equally, a number of researchers have claimed that there are genetic links to behavior, so genetic testing might be used to identify people who are more susceptible to addiction or criminal acts. While it may sound like a bad science fiction story, we have the technology to create mass genetic databases on whole national populations, as was done in Iceland (see Chapter 12) and which is limited only by computer storage capacities. In addition, genetic mapping has become so inexpensive that companies are now offering test kits for sale to the general public that purport to tell you your heritage and (where allowed) potential health issues. These commercial tests pose another version of the question of who owns genetic information, since the testing companies retain and aggregate test results and market that information. In this case, the person who buys one of these tests, often as a gift for someone else, is not really the consumer, but the product being marketed to others.
虽然检测可以发现问题,但目前最受关注的是利用基因修复问题的能力。重组 DNA 首次用于治疗是由 NIH 的一个团队进行的。1990 年和 1991 年,他们使用逆转录病毒来修改从两名患有罕见遗传疾病(腺苷脱氨酶缺乏症)的女孩身上提取的 T 细胞(免疫系统的一部分)。当 T 细胞返回患者体内时,患者产生的部分 T 细胞仍然没有遗传问题。他们的健康状况得到改善,以至于他们能够将药物摄入量减少到常规治疗药物量的一半。虽然这并不能完全治愈,但对患者来说这是一个显著的变化。
While testing can indicate problems, it is the ability to use genetics to repair problems that now attracts the most interest. The first use of recombinant DNA in therapy was undertaken by a team working for the NIH. In 1990 and 1991 they used retroviruses to modify T cells (part of the immune system) taken from two girls with a rare genetic disorder called adenosine deaminase deficiency. When the T cells were returned to the patients, a certain portion of the T cells being produced by the patients continued to be free of the genetic problem. Their health improved to the point where they were able to reduce their drug intake to half the amount used in conventional treatment of the disease. While this was not a complete cure, it was a remarkable change for the patients.
截至 2014 年,美国国立卫生研究院已经实施了 2,000 多项基因治疗方案。许多关于基因治疗的伦理问题都与其使用限制有关。虽然治疗某些遗传性疾病似乎没有问题,但什么时候治疗不再是为了防御疾病,而是为了改变一个人以达到某种理想的状态?基因治疗应该开发用于治疗秃顶还是使人长高?
By 2014 more than 2,000 protocols for gene therapy had been conducted by the NIH. Many of the ethical concerns about genetic therapy have to do with limits to its use. While treating some genetically based diseases seems unproblematic, at what point is a therapy no longer about defense against disease but about changing a person in order to reach some desired condition? Should gene therapy be developed for baldness or to make people taller?
身高问题是一个有趣的例子,因为它跨越了前遗传学时代和遗传治疗时代。1956 年,Choh Hao Li (1913–87) 和他的团队分离出了激素 HGH 或人类生长激素。虽然 HGH 并不是影响人类身高的唯一控制机制,但它是在 20 世纪 60 年代作为儿童侏儒症的治疗方法而开发的。随着时间的推移,医生开始收到要求对没有患侏儒症但身高低于平均水平或甚至与平均水平相当的儿童进行 HGH 治疗的请求。这引发了关于使用疗法来改善人体而不是改善衰弱性疾病的伦理问题。
The case of height is an interesting one, since it bridges both the pre-genetic and genetic treatment eras. The hormone HGH or human growth hormone was isolated by Choh Hao Li (1913–87) and his team in 1956. While HGH is not the only control mechanism that affects human height, it was developed as a treatment for dwarfism in children in the 1960s. Over time doctors started getting requests for HGH treatment for children who did not suffer from dwarfism but were just shorter than average height or even at average height. This raised ethical questions about the use of therapy to improve the human body rather than ameliorate a debilitating condition.
由于基因疗法存在不确定性,以及 HGH 的非临床应用等问题,NIH 成立了一个专门小组来研究这一问题。正如 HGH 的历史所表明的那样,伦理问题并非理论上的。尽管该小组在 1995 年的报告中指出,基因疗法具有许多潜在益处,未来的研究前景十分光明,但它也警告人们不要过于热情:
The uncertainty associated with genetic therapy and problems such as the nonclinical use of HGH led the NIH to establish a panel to examine the issue. As the history of HGH shows, the ethical questions are not theoretical. Although the panel’s 1995 report argued that genetic therapy had many potential benefits, and future work looked very promising, it also warned people about too much enthusiasm:
研究人员及其赞助者(无论是学术、联邦还是工业界)过度吹嘘实验室和临床研究的结果,导致人们普遍错误地认为基因疗法比实际情况更先进、更成功。这种不准确的描述威胁了人们对该领域诚信的信心,并可能最终阻碍基因疗法在人类疾病中的成功应用。1
Overselling of the results of laboratory and clinical studies by investigators and their sponsors – be they academic, federal, or industrial – has led to the mistaken and widespread perception that gene therapy is further developed and more successful than it actually is. Such inaccurate portrayals threaten confidence in the integrity of the field and may ultimately hinder progress toward successful application of gene therapy to human disease.1
1985 年,美国食品药品管理局批准了由转基因细菌生产的 HGH 上市,这是继胰岛素之后推出的第二种转基因药物。遗传学家和医生在开发这些产品时考虑的是治疗,而 HGH 的推广者则将其吹捧为一种神奇药物,可以增加肌肉质量、减少体脂、让人看起来和感觉更年轻,甚至增加性欲。虽然这些说法大部分都是不真实的,或者充其量是没有根据的,但推广者利用 HGH 的科学基础来证明荒谬的说法,并向数百万人发送垃圾邮件来宣传他们的产品。营销和对基因无法与隔壁邻居保持同步的恐惧可能会推动对治疗的需求,并为推销某种长生不老药的江湖骗子提供充足的机会。
In 1985 the Food and Drug Administration approved the marketing of HGH produced by genetically modified bacteria, the second genetically engineered drug after insulin to be introduced. While geneticists and physicians worked on these products with therapy in mind, promoters of the use of HGH touted it as a wonder drug that would increase muscle mass, decrease body fat, make a person look and feel younger, and even increase libido. While these claims are largely untrue, or at best unsubstantiated, promoters have used the scientific foundation of HGH work to justify wild claims and to send e-mail spam advertising their product to millions of people. Marketing and a fear of failing to keep up genetically with the next-door neighbors may drive the demand for therapy and provide ample opportunities for charlatans offering a kind of elixir of life.
基因操纵不再是一个理论上的问题。2018 年,生物物理学家贺建奎 (1984-) 宣布一对双胞胎女婴出生,他声称她们使用 CRISPR 基因编辑对胚胎进行处理,以提高她们对艾滋病毒的抵抗力。这一声明引发了媒体的强烈关注,人们对贺建奎研究的伦理和科学可靠性产生了极大担忧。2019 年,第三个基因编辑婴儿出生。贺建奎与南方科技大学的一个小团队合作,他的工作最初被誉为一项突破,但很快就发现存在问题。他所在的大学表示,他的工作是在校外进行的,该项目受到了包括诺贝尔奖获得者、遗传学研究先驱戴维·巴尔的摩 (1938-) 在内的顶尖科学家的谴责。2019 年,中国一家法院裁定贺建奎和他的两名同伙违反了伦理道德,并误导了参与植入基因编辑胚胎的医生。尽管贺建奎声称取得了成功,但随后对这些儿童的测试却引发了人们对细胞变化程度的质疑,认为基因编辑对儿童几乎没有保护作用。人们还担心,这些变化可能会以不可预测的方式影响儿童的大脑。
Genetic manipulation is no longer a theoretical concern. In 2018 biophysicist He Jiankui (1984–) announced the birth of twin girls whom he claimed to have used CRISPR gene editing on embryos to increase their HIV resistance. The announcement led to a storm of media interest and great concern about the ethics and scientific reliability of He’s work. In 2019 a third child with edited genes was born. Working with a small team at the Southern University of Science and Technology, He’s work was first hailed as a breakthrough, but it quickly became clear that there were problems. His university stated that his work was conducted outside of the university, and the project was condemned by leading scientists including Nobel laureate David Baltimore (1938–), a pioneer in genetic research. In 2019 a Chinese court found He and two of his associates guilty of ethical violations and misleading the medical doctors involved in implanting the gene-edited embryos. Despite He’s claim of success, subsequent testing of the children raised questions about the degree of cellular change suggesting little or no protection from the editing. There has also been concern about the possibility that the changes had affected the brains of the children in unpredictable ways.
随着我们对细胞功能的了解不断增加,基因疗法很可能会得到改善。其中一个主要目标将是癌细胞,最终目标是让癌细胞恢复正常状态。然而,还有另一种方法可以解决细胞问题,那就是按顺序制造细胞,而不是事后再试图修复它们。基因改造已经应用于多种粮食作物和哈佛小鼠的生产,以及产药细菌,也将应用于人类。一些观察家,如杰里米·里夫金 (1945-),已经推测未来父母可能拥有的基因选择种类繁多。从眼睛和头发的颜色、抗病性,到乳房大小、身高、自然寿命、智力甚至音乐才能都可能被改变。虽然电影往往把人类基因改造描绘成创造超级种族(通常以无情的杀人机器士兵的形式出现)的邪恶阴谋,但实际上,改变人类胎儿的选择主要基于父母对为孩子提供尽可能好的生活的担忧。当富人可以改变自己而穷人不能改变时,世界会是什么样子?
As our knowledge of cell function increases, it is likely that genetic therapies will improve. One of the principal targets will be cancer cells, where the ultimate goal will be to get the cancerous cells to return in effect to their normal state. There is, however, another path to dealing with the problems of cells, and that is to create them to order rather than trying to fix them up later. Genetic modification, which has already been introduced to a number of food crops and the production of the Harvard mouse, as well as drug-producing bacteria, will come to humans. Some observers, such as Jeremy Rifkin (1945–), have already speculated on the potential smorgasbord of genetic choices that may be available to parents in the future. Everything from eye and hair color, disease resistance, breast size, height, length of natural life, intelligence, and even musical ability may be modifiable. While the movies have tended to portray the genetic modification of people as an evil plot to create a super race (often in the form of relentless killing machine–soldiers), in reality the choice to modify human fetuses will be based largely on parental concern about providing the best life possible for their children. What will the world look like when the rich can modify themselves and the poor cannot?
1959 年,物理学家理查德费曼(1918-88 年)发表了题为“底部有足够的空间”的演讲,探讨了直接操纵原子进行合成化学的可能性。这被视为纳米技术的理论和实践的开端,因为费曼在演讲结束时提出了两项挑战:(1)制造一个可以装入边长为 0.39 毫米的立方体中的可运行的电动机;(2)将一页文本缩小到比正常印刷品小 25,000 倍。第一项挑战由威廉麦克莱伦(1924-2011 年)于 1960 年完成,但直到 1985 年,汤姆纽曼才用电子束将《双城记》的第一页刻在大头针头上。按照这个尺寸,整本大英百科全书都可以写在大头针上。
In 1959 the physicist Richard Feynman (1918–88) gave a lecture entitled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” about the possibility of the direct manipulation of atoms as a way of doing synthetic chemistry. This has been seen as the start of nanotechnology both theoretically and in practical terms because Feynman concluded his talk with two challenges: (1) Make a working electrical motor that would fit in a cube with 0.39 mm sides and (2) Reduce a page of text to be 25,000 times smaller than normal print. The first challenge was finished in 1960 by William McLellan (1924–2011), but it took until 1985 for Tom Newman to inscribe the first page of A Tale of Two Cities on the head of a pin using an electron beam. At that size, the whole of the Encyclopedia Britannica could be written on the pin.
碳是纳米技术关注的主要材料。碳作为一种结构材料真正开始于 20 世纪 60 年代初 Akio Shindo (1926-) 发明的碳化聚丙烯腈。通过将碳纤维粘合在一起并用碳纤维制成线和布,它可以用来替代较重的材料。碳纤维的抗拉强度与钢相当,但重量仅为钢的一小部分,因此越来越多地成为设计师和建筑商的首选材料。尽管早期的碳纤维组件存在分层和脆性问题,但到了 20 世纪 90 年代,人们开始使用更好的聚合物,碳纤维被用在从网球拍到飞机机翼等各种产品中。
The main material that has become the focus of nanotechnology has been carbon. Carbon as a structural material really started with the introduction of carbonized polyacrylonitrile by Akio Shindo (1926–) in the early 1960s. By bonding carbon fibers together and making thread and cloth from carbon, it could be used to replace heavier materials. With a tensile strength equal to steel, but only a fraction of the weight, carbon fibers have increasingly become the material of choice for designers and builders. Although there were some problems with delamination and brittleness in the early carbon fiber components, by the 1990s better polymers were being used and carbon fiber was being used in everything from tennis racquets to airplane wings.
虽然碳纤维是纳米技术的一部分,但另一种形式的碳却引发了一场新的碳革命,并首次被称为纳米技术。1985 年,萨塞克斯大学的 Harold Kroto (1939-2016) 正在思考太空中的碳链。有证据表明,某些恒星,红矮星,会产生一种烟灰。如果是这样的话,这些碳链将是最古老的分子之一,或许是许多物质的基础天体,并为组成宇宙中的有机物质提供材料。为了验证这一假设,克罗托请理查德·斯莫利(1943-2005)和他的休斯顿莱斯大学团队重现红矮星表面的一些条件。通过用激光照射一块碳并收集蒸发的分子簇,他们发现其中一些分子含有固定数量的碳原子,要么是 60,要么是 70。产生的分子看起来像 R. 巴克敏斯特·富勒(1895-1983)设计的测地线圆顶,正式命名为巴克敏斯特富勒烯。(见图13.1。)富勒烯,或更简单地称为巴基球,具有几种有趣的特性。它们可以导电,非常坚硬,并且由于其形状,可以捕获其他原子。
While carbon fibers are part of nanotechnology, it was another form of carbon that started a new carbon revolution and was first called nanotechnology. In 1985 Harold Kroto (1939–2016) at the University of Sussex was wondering about carbon chains in space. Evidence suggested that certain stars, red dwarfs, produce a kind of soot. If this were the case, these carbon chains would be one of the oldest possible molecules, perhaps forming the foundation for a number of celestial objects and providing the materials to make up organic matter in the universe. To test this hypothesis, Kroto asked Richard Smalley (1943–2005) and his team at Rice University in Houston to recreate some of the conditions that exist at the surface of a red dwarf star. By shooting a laser at a block of carbon and collecting the vaporized clusters of molecules, they discovered that some of the molecules contained a fixed number of carbon atoms, either 60 or 70. The resulting molecules looked like geodesic domes as designed by R. Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) and were formally named buckminsterfullerene. (See figure 13.1.) Fullerenes or more simply, bucky balls, have several properties that make them interesting. They can conduct electricity, are very hard, and because of their shape, can capture other atoms.
13.1巴克明斯特富勒烯或“巴基球”
13.1 BUCKMINSTERFULLERENE OR “BUCKY BALL”
也许这种碳纤维最大胆的用途是制造一条长达 99,820 公里的电缆,从赤道升至太空平台。1895 年,康斯坦丁·齐奥尔科夫斯基(俄罗斯火箭名人)首次提出了这种系统的想法,当时他看着埃菲尔铁塔,想象着一条电缆从铁塔升至太空。最早对太空电梯可能性进行研究的是约翰·D·艾萨克斯(1913–80 年)、阿林·C·瓦因(1914–94 年)、休·布拉德纳(1915–2008 年)和乔治·E·巴克斯(1930– 年)团队,他们于 1966 年在《科学》杂志上发表了论文《卫星伸长成真正的‘天钩’》(见图 13.2)。除了廉价运输物资之外,太空电梯还可用作发射平台,利用地球自转,将物体以每小时 25,000 公里以上的速度抛向太空,就像一个巨大的弹弓一样。
Perhaps the most audacious use suggested for such carbon fibers was to create a cable 99,820 kilometers long rising up from the equator to a space platform. The idea of such a system was first visualized by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (of Russian rocketry fame) in 1895 when he looked at the Eiffel Tower and imagined a cable rising up from it into space. One of the first examinations of the possibility of a space elevator came from the team of John D. Isaacs (1913–80), Allyn C. Vine (1914–94), Hugh Bradner (1915–2008), and George E. Bachus (1930–), who published “Satellite Elongation into a True ‘Sky-Hook,’” in the journal Science in 1966. (See figure 13.2.) In addition to moving materials cheaply, the space elevator would also serve as a launch platform, flinging things into space at a velocity of more than 25,000 kilometers per hour, like a giant slingshot using the rotation of the Earth.
13.2太空电梯
13.2 SPACE ELEVATOR
尽管纳米纤维很重要,但最终目标是制造纳米设备。1981 年,Gerd Binning(1947-)和 Heinrich Rohrer(1933-2013)在苏黎世 IBM 研究实验室工作,发明了第一台扫描隧道显微镜 (STM),这标志着这种亚微观工程的开始。虽然它被称为显微镜,但它可以检查远低于任何光学系统范围的材料。它不是观察小物体,而是以类似于留声机针感受黑胶唱片凹槽轮廓的方式感受它们。当电流通过一根非常锋利的针时,STM 可以追踪物体的轮廓,精确到百分之一纳米(百万分之一毫米)。高性能计算机将数据转换为视觉图像。
Although nano fibers are important, the ultimate goal is to create nano devices. A start toward this submicroscopic engineering was made in 1981 when Gerd Binning (1947–) and Heinrich Rohrer (1933–2013), working at the IBM Research Lab in Zurich, created the first scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Although it is called a microscope, it examines materials well below the range of any optical system. Rather than looking at small objects, it feels them in a way analogous to a phonograph needle feeling the contours in the groove of a vinyl record. With a current running through a very sharp needle, the STM can trace the outline of objects down to a hundredth of a nanometer (a millionth of a millimeter). High-powered computers turn the data into a visual image.
然而,这种显微镜还有第二个绝招。除了感应小物体外,它还能拾起并移动它们。1989 年,位于加利福尼亚州阿尔马登的另一个 IBM 团队使用 STM 排列 35 个氙原子,拼出“IBM”字样。1996 年,苏黎世的科学家们创造了这项壮举,他们制作了一个微型算盘,由 11 排十个C 60富勒烯分子组成,STM 的尖端可以前后推动这些分子进行计数。虽然需要 STM 来计数的算盘似乎有点像科学噱头,但它实际上有一个严肃的用途。如果要创造纳米技术,就必须有某种方法来制造原始的纳米机器。从某种意义上说,STM 提供了创建生产机器制造机器的机械车间的可能性。其他研究人员已经开发了微型泵和马达,因此生产这种微型机器似乎完全有可能。一些科学家预见到纳米工厂能够利用大量原始化学品制造出有用的材料,能够利用大桶的基本元素制造出从分子水平组装的碳纤维材料乃至整个物体——椅子、电脑和飞机。
This microscope has a second trick up its sleeve, however. In addition to sensing small objects, it can pick them up and move them around. In 1989 another IBM team at Almaden, California, used an STM to arrange 35 xenon atoms to spell “IBM.” This feat was topped in 1996 back in Zurich when scientists made a miniature abacus consisting of 11 rows of ten C60 fullerene molecules, which the tip of the STM pushed backwards and forward to count. While an abacus that requires an STM to count may seem like a bit of a science stunt, it actually has a serious purpose. If nanotechnology is to be created, there has to be some way to make the original nanomachines. In a sense the STM offers the possibility of creating the machine shop that will produce the machine-making machines. Other researchers have developed microscopic pumps and motors, so the production of such micromachines seems entirely possible. Some scientists foresee nanofactories creating useful materials from piles of raw chemicals, from the molecular-level assembly of carbon-fiber materials to whole objects – chairs, computers, and airplanes – out of vats of basic elements.
随着增材制造或3D打印的发明,这种技术的一种宏观版本已经出现。1981 年,名古屋市工业研究所的 Hideo Kodama (1944-) 介绍了一种使用液态塑料制造三维物体的方法,这种塑料在紫外线照射下会变硬。从那时起,各种打印方法相继问世,包括烧结(利用热量将粉末变成固体,通常使用金属)、液膜和热塑性塑料。虽然大多数增材制造仍用于制造原型或专用组件,但消费级机器也已面世。该技术有可能用于纳米级生产,用更经济实惠的生产方法取代极其昂贵的 STM 方法。
A kind of macro version of this has already appeared with the invention of additive manufacturing or 3D printing. In 1981 Hideo Kodama (1944–) of the Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute introduced a method of making three-dimensional objects using a liquid plastic that would harden on exposure to ultraviolet light. Since then a variety of printing methods have developed including sintering (using heat to turn a powder to a solid, often using metal), liquid films, and thermoplastics. While the majority of additive manufacturing is still directed at making prototypes or specialized components, consumer machines are becoming available. This technology has the potential to be used for nanoscale production, replacing the extremely expensive STM approach with more commercially affordable production methods.
科学和法律界都有这样一条格言:非凡的主张需要非凡的证据。在冷聚变的案例中,这些主张确实非凡,但证据却不是。将想法从实验室推向市场的压力为科学家走捷径以保持优先权和将发现商业化打开了大门。冷聚变的故事是最著名的案例之一,凸显了规避既定科学过程的危险。
There is a dictum in both science and law that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. In the case of cold fusion, the claims were indeed extraordinary while the evidence was not. The pressure to get ideas out of the lab and into the market has opened the door to scientists taking shortcuts to preserve priority and commercialize discoveries. One of the most notorious cases highlighting the dangers of circumventing established scientific processes is the story of cold fusion.
鉴于我们普遍期望科学能够创造奇迹,1989 年发现一种新能源似乎并非完全不切实际。犹他大学校长蔡斯·彼得森宣布两位科学家斯坦利·庞斯(1943-)和马丁·弗莱施曼(1927-2012)发现室温下发生聚变时,引起了轰动。他们创造了一个电解“电池”,由一个装有重水(氧化氘)的玻璃烧瓶组成,并在其中通入电流。在某个时刻,他们注意到温度急剧上升,尽管使用的电量没有变化。如果科学家们在他们的聚变电池中产生的能量比他们投入的能量多一点点,他们的成就可能会彻底改变能源生产,改写物理学,并赚取大笔资金。他们将他们的发现称为“冷聚变”,而不是恒星或氢弹中看到的“热聚变”。
Given our general expectation that science can produce wonders, it did not seem completely unrealistic in 1989 that a new energy source had been discovered. When Chase Peterson, president of the University of Utah, announced that two scientists, Stanley Pons (1943–) and Martin Fleischmann (1927–2012), had discovered fusion at room temperature, it caused a sensation. They had created an electrolysis “cell” consisting of a glass flask containing heavy water (deuterium oxide) and run a current through it. At some point, they noted a sharp rise in temperature even though the amount of power being used had not changed. If the scientists had generated even a tiny bit more energy in their fusion cells than they had put in, their accomplishment could revolutionize energy production, rewrite physics, and make large sums of money. They called their discovery “cold fusion” as opposed to the “hot fusion” seen in stars or hydrogen bombs.
在宣布这一消息后的几天里,尚不清楚庞斯和弗莱施曼究竟做了什么,甚至不清楚他们使用的实验装置,因此,物理学中某些新方面被揭示出来的想法似乎是可能的。其他实验室匆忙进行的一些实验似乎证实了这一说法,或者至少没有明确反驳这一说法。如果冷聚变是真的,物理学的某些部分就必须修改,但这种事件在过去已经发生过。例如,加热黑色碳块的简单实验产生了意想不到的结果,帮助开创了量子物理学。虽然大多数此类科学争议发生在科学界,但庞斯和弗莱施曼的故事却在媒体的万众瞩目下展开,并得到了巨额研究资金的支持。部分争议来自其他科学家,特别是物理学家,他们表示冷聚变不可能实现,从而引发了化学家(庞斯 (Pons) 和弗莱施曼 (Fleischmann))和物理学家(如约翰·R·休森加 [1921–2014])之间的争斗,这为媒体报道冲突提供了方便。
In the days immediately after the announcement, it was not clear what Pons and Fleischmann had actually done or even the exact experimental setup they had used, and so the idea that some new aspect of physics had been uncovered seemed possible. Some hastily constructed experiments at other labs appeared to confirm, or at least not clearly disprove, the claim. If cold fusion was real, some parts of physics would have to be revised, but such events had happened in the past. The unexpected results of a simple experiment heating up a black cube of carbon had, for example, helped initiate quantum physics. While most of these kinds of scientific controversies take place within the scientific community, Pons and Fleischmann played out their story in the full glare of media attention and with the backing of tremendous amounts of research money. Part of the controversy came from other scientists, especially physicists, who said that cold fusion could not possibly work, setting up a fight between the chemists (Pons and Fleischmann) and the physicists (such as John R. Huizenga [1921–2014]), which provided an easy conflict to cover in the media.
科学发现的风险很高:不仅要投入金钱、设备和研究时间,而且还要危及人们的声誉。因此对于庞斯和弗莱施曼来说,公开展示他们在这一革命性科学发现中的先例非常重要,而不必经过同行评审所需的耗时的制衡过程。此外,赞助者(政府、慈善组织或私人公司)必须决定他们将资助哪些类型的研究以及应该支持这些领域的哪些人。这些赞助者渴望获得宣传,以证明他们的资金在创造新的和可能有用的知识方面发挥了重要作用。虽然资助并不完全是零和游戏,总资金量是固定的,但它接近于零和游戏,因此支持错误的研究项目或错误的人可能会损害未来资助的潜力。虽然很难计算出在冷聚变幻想上花费了多少金钱和时间,但数以千万美元计,损失了数千小时的实验室时间,而这些时间本可以用于支持其他研究工作。
The stakes of scientific discovery are high: not only money, equipment, and research time are being used, but people’s reputations are at stake. It was thus important for Pons and Fleischmann to demonstrate publicly their precedence in this revolutionary scientific discovery, without having gone through the time-consuming process of checks and balances required by peer review. In addition, patrons, in the form of governments, philanthropic organizations or private companies, must make decisions about what types of research they will fund and which people within those areas should be supported. Those patrons are keen to have publicity, demonstrating that their funding has been valuable in the creation of new and potentially useful knowledge. Although funding is not quite a zero-sum game in which the total amount of money available is fixed, it is close to that, so backing the wrong research project or the wrong people can damage the potential for future funding. While it is difficult to calculate how much money and time has been spent on the chimera of cold fusion, it is in the tens of millions of dollars and the loss of thousands of laboratory hours that could have supported other research efforts.
冷聚变的主张最终被证明是完全没有根据的,而且也没有挑战我们对物理学的理解,但这一事件凸显了新千年科学的一些问题。故事中的主要人物庞斯和弗莱施曼是享有盛誉的科学家,他们拥有学位、专业协会会员资格并在主要大学就职。他们拥有所有资格,可以成为科学发现的可靠来源,因此可以合理地推测他们的工作值得认真考虑。其他科学家反对他们的结论本身并不意味着他们的工作是错误的。历史上充斥着知名科学家反对新发现的故事,从普里斯特利反对拉瓦锡的氧气理论到对爱因斯坦相对论的争议,或地质界对魏格纳大陆移动思想的谴责。然而,为了给具有革命性潜力的理念树立先例,庞斯和弗莱施曼认为,在他人对其开展严格调查之前,他们需要展示已证实的理念。这表明,通过为那些能够迅速取得非凡成果的人提供巨额奖励,这种制度日益将科学研究商业化,这种制度的危险性可见一斑。
Claims for cold fusion turned out to be completely unfounded, and there was no challenge to our understanding of physics, but the event highlights some of the problems of science in the new millennium. The major characters in the story, Pons and Fleischmann, were reputable scientists with degrees, memberships in professional associations, and employment at major universities. They had all the credentials to make them reliable sources for scientific discovery, so it was not unreasonable to presume that their work merited serious consideration. That other scientists objected to their conclusions did not, in itself, make the work wrong. History is littered with stories of established scientists opposing new discoveries, from Priestley’s objection to Lavoisier’s oxygen theory to the controversy over Einstein’s theory of relativity, or the geological community’s condemnation of Wegener’s idea that continents move. In their eagerness to establish precedence for a potentially revolutionary idea, however, Pons and Fleischman believed that they needed to present their ideas as proven before they had been subjected to rigorous investigation by others. This demonstrates the danger of a system that has increasingly commercialized research in science by offering great rewards to those who can produce extraordinary results quickly.
作为冷聚变故事的后记,尽管冷聚变研究已经失败了 25 年,但少数私人和公共团体仍在资助该研究。支持者们经常以此作为最初想法有科学依据的证据,但实际上这种资助是一种边际投资。换句话说,赞助者资助一些不太可能的项目,将其视为一种赌注,尤其是在允许他们减免研究成本的税收管辖区。
As a postscript to the cold fusion story, a small number of private and public groups are still funding cold fusion research despite more than 25 years of failure. This is often held up by supporters as proof that there is a scientific foundation to the original idea, but in fact such funding is a form of marginal investment. In other words, patrons fund a few unlikely projects as a bet on a long shot, particularly in tax jurisdictions that allow them to write off research costs.
大多数评论家认为冷聚变的“发现”是一厢情愿的想法和糟糕的实验程序,而不是渎职行为。科学确实有一种自我调节的方法,旨在将不健全的科学排除在科学家认为合法或有价值的主题范围之外。科学家们指出,期刊中的同行评审系统(Pons 和 Fleischmann 没有使用,而是转向大众媒体)和实验的重复是清除不良科学的内部手段。然而,这比你想象的更成问题,因为事实证明,重复大型实验很困难,而且在实践中很少有实验被重复。由于科学家的生计依赖于发现,因此很少有人支持重复已经完成的工作。同样,由于大型实验(如超级对撞机测试)的成本可能高达数百万美元,即使有兴趣这样做,从经济上来说,重复某些实验也是不可能的。因此,科学家通常依赖于实验结果的一致性,而不是重复实验。换句话说,只要实验结果符合预期规范、与已建立的理论相对应,并且实验是按照公认的程序进行的,即使没有经过独立测试,实验结果也会被视为有效。
Most commentators have attributed the “discovery” of cold fusion to wishful thinking and poor experimental procedures rather than malfeasance. Science does have a method of self-regulation, designed to squeeze unsound science out of the range of topics considered by scientists as legitimate or worthwhile. Scientists point to the peer review system in journals (not used by Pons and Fleischmann, who turned instead to the mass media) and to the replication of experiments as the internal means of weeding out bad science. This is, however, more problematic than you might think, since it turns out to be difficult to repeat big experiments, and few experiments are ever repeated in practice. Since scientists’ livelihood is based on discovery, there is not much support for repeating work that has already been done. As well, since the cost of large-scale experiments, such as supercollider tests, can run into the millions of dollars, it may not be possible economically to repeat certain experiments even if there were some interest in doing so. Scientists, therefore, often rely on the consilience of experimental results, rather than on repeated experiments. In other words, experimental results are accepted as valid, even if not independently tested, as long as the results fall within expected norms, corresponding to already established theories, and the experiment has been conducted following accepted procedures.
自律的第二个问题日益严重,即研究保密。虽然军事重要研究的某些方面长期以来一直处于保密状态,但越来越多的非军事研究正处于保密状态,这是基于专有信息的概念,不仅在企业资助的研究中如此,而且在公共研究中也越来越如此,因为大学和政府希望将研究成果转化为盈利性业务。如果没有证据可供评估,主张就很难检验,及时做出有关研究或产品的决策也会变得困难。保密既会影响发现(这些发现通常不受公众监督),也会影响研究的应用(同样是保密的)。利用科学研究达成的产品责任法律和解通常包括保密协议或“封口令”,以防止各方向他人透露发现了哪些问题。从香烟到化妆品,一系列产品都适用此类限制。如果科学工作不能被其他科学家审查,那么自律系统就会崩溃。
A second and growing problem for self-regulation is the use of secrecy in research. While aspects of research of military importance have long been kept secret, more nonmilitary research is being kept confidential, based on the idea of proprietary information not only in corporate-funded research but also increasingly in public research, as universities and governments look to spin off research into profit-making businesses. If there is no evidence to evaluate, claims are hard to test, and timely decisions about research or products become difficult. Secrecy can affect both the discoveries, which are often shielded from public scrutiny, and the application of research, also kept secret. Legal settlements over product liability that have used scientific research often have included nondisclosure agreements or “gag orders” to prevent parties from revealing to others what problems were uncovered. Such restrictions have been applied to a range of products, from cigarettes to cosmetics. If scientific work cannot be examined by other scientists, then the self-regulation system breaks down.
除此之外,利益相关方还试图通过干涉科学研究来保护自己的投资。这种干涉可能表现为有偏见的研究,或试图阻止可能表明存在问题的研究。产品或程序。最受关注的案例发生在制药行业,许多研究人员伪造结果以支持某种药物。相反,其他研究人员因发表负面结果或暗示药物存在问题而被解雇、受到法律诉讼威胁、被起诉或被取消资助。南希·奥利维里博士就是这种情况,她在 1998 年在《新英格兰医学杂志》上发表了一篇关于药物去铁酮的负面报告后,受到法律诉讼威胁并被多伦多儿童医院解雇。虽然她后来恢复了原职,但她的案件远非孤例。
Added to this problem are efforts by interested parties to protect their investments by interfering with scientific inquiry. This can take the form of biased research or efforts to block research that might indicate problems with a product or procedure. The most publicized cases have been in the pharmaceutical business, in which a number of researchers have falsified results in favor of a drug. Conversely, other researchers have been fired, threatened with legal action, sued, or had funding withdrawn for publishing negative results or suggesting problems with drugs. Such was the case for Dr. Nancy Olivieri, who was threatened with legal action and removed from her position at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children after publishing a negative report on the drug deferiprone in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1998. Although she was later reinstated, her case was far from isolated.
在 1998 年开始的反疫苗丑闻中,外科医生兼医学研究员安德鲁·韦克菲尔德(Andrew Wakefield,1957-)在新闻发布会上声称发现了麻疹、腮腺炎和风疹疫苗 (MMR) 与自闭症之间的联系。他的研究发表在《柳叶刀》杂志上,但后来被发现质量低劣且为了支持他的观点而进行了虚假报道,导致该杂志撤回了这篇论文。进一步发现他有未公开的经济利益,从针对 MMR 疫苗的诉讼中的律师那里收受了钱,并与两家制药公司有联系,其中一家正计划开发替代疫苗。
In the anti-vaccine scandal starting in 1998, surgeon and medical researcher Andrew Wakefield (1957–) claimed at a press conference to have found a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) and autism. His research was published in the journal Lancet, but was later discovered to have been poor quality and misreported to support his position, leading to the withdrawal of the paper by the journal. It was further discovered that he had undisclosed financial interests, receiving money from lawyers in a lawsuit against the MMR vaccine and connections with two pharmaceutical companies, one of which was planning to develop an alternative vaccine.
偏见研究的问题已经变得如此紧迫,以至于 2001 年国际医学期刊编辑委员会发出警告,称他们将不再发表那些受限制学术自由协议约束的研究人员的药物试验报告。换句话说,要么全部报道,要么就不报道。
The problem of biased research has become so urgent that in 2001 the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors issued a warning that they would no longer publish drug trial reports from researchers who were bound by agreements that limited academic freedom. In other words, it was the whole story or no story.
由于新药的生产成本可能高达数百万美元,但可以产生数十亿美元的收入,因此发表积极研究成果的压力非常大。现在越来越多的科学期刊要求提交论文的科学家披露财务利益,例如资金来源或公司报酬。
Since new drugs can cost millions of dollars to produce and can generate billions of dollars in revenues, the pressure to publish positive research is very great. An increasing number of scientific journals now require a disclosure of financial interest, such as funding sources or corporate remuneration, from scientists submitting papers.
虽然利益相关方可能会试图避免发表负面结果,但科学期刊并不总是中立的,因此同行评审的自我监管机制也并非完全可靠。近年来,即使是《科学》和《自然》等最负盛名的期刊也被指责匆忙发表研究结果,以便率先发表前沿研究成果。由于发表的重要性,科学家和期刊之间存在着一种反馈回路。期刊通过发表令人兴奋和开创性的成果来获得声望。想要出名的科学家希望自己的工作发表在声望期刊上。这种利益的融合是这不一定是个问题,尽管它可能鼓励双方走捷径。此外,依赖“盲”或匿名评审发表文章并不总是公正的。在每个人的工作都为其他人所知的领域,同行评审的控制机制可能会崩溃。由于只有同一领域的科学家才能理解和评估工作,当他们担任评审员时,他们可能不愿意批评同一个小社区的其他成员。如果科学期刊的编辑们所依赖的同行评审有偏见或不完整,他们就无法抵御糟糕的工作。赌注很高。数百万美元的研究经费、领先的研究职位、国际声望,以及最终的奖项——诺贝尔奖——都可能取决于出版物的地位。
While interested parties may try to circumvent the publication of negative results, science journals are not always neutral players, so the self-regulatory mechanism of peer review is not completely reliable either. In recent years, even the most prestigious journals such as Science and Nature have been accused of rushing results into print in order to be the first to publish cutting-edge work. Because of the importance of publication, a kind of feedback loop exists between the scientists and the journals. Journals gain prestige by publishing exciting and groundbreaking results. Scientists who want to make a name for themselves aim to have their work published in prestige journals. This convergence of interests is not necessarily a problem, although it can encourage both players to take shortcuts. As well, the reliance on “blind” or anonymous reviewing for publication is not always impartial. In fields where everyone’s work is known to everyone else, the control mechanism of peer review may break down. Since only scientists in the same field can understand and evaluate work, when they act as reviewers they may be reluctant to criticize other members of the same small community. The editors of scientific journals have little defense against bad work if the peer reviews on which they rely are biased or incomplete. The stakes are high. Millions of dollars in research money, leading research posts, international prestige, and the ultimate prize – a Nobel Prize – may ride on the status of publications.
验证的各种问题是一个复杂且自我约束的职业的自然副产品,但它会使科学家与公众之间的互动变得困难。外行人对相互冲突且往往相互矛盾的科学主张感到困扰,因此,一些人拒绝整个科学事业,对所有新发现持怀疑态度也就不足为奇了。忽视科学就是把头埋在沙子里,因为科学继续改变着我们的生活,不管我们喜欢与否。在未来几年里,我们作为个人和社会将面临科学给我们提供的越来越多的选择。研究经费应该花在哪里?我们如何评估用于研究亚原子粒子内部的巨型同步加速器的资金需求与用于太空站或寻找癌症治疗方法的资金需求之间的不同重要性?在饥饿和瘟疫普遍存在的世界里,我们如何平衡制造转基因食品的危险与潜在利益?我们如何评估有关全球变暖的论点?那么深层次的个人选择呢,比如对我们的孩子甚至我们自己进行基因改造的可能性?
The various problems of verification are a natural by-product of a complex and self-regulating profession, but it can make the interaction between scientists and the general public difficult. Laypeople are left troubled by conflicting and often contradictory scientific claims, so it is no wonder that some have rejected the whole enterprise of science, greeting all new discoveries with skepticism. Ignoring science is putting one’s head in the sand as it continues to change our lives, whether we like it or not. In the coming years, we as individuals and as a society will be faced with an increasing number of choices presented to us by science. Where should research money go? How will we assess the differential importance of demands for cash for a giant synchrotron to look into the interior of subatomic particles against space stations or the search for the cure for cancer? How do we balance the dangers against the potential benefits of creating genetically modified food in a world where starvation and pestilence are common? How do we assess arguments about global warming? What about deeply personal choices, such as the potential to genetically modify our children or even ourselves?
科学的力量以及对资助机构和行业干预的担忧导致了否认科学研究成果的运动日益兴起。否认主义基于这样的观点:只有科学家对某个科学话题 100% 的认同才足以证明社会行动的合理性。这混淆了公众普遍持有的两种观点。第一种观点是,在争论中,双方的意见都应该得到倾听和平等对待。第二种观点是,过去科学界的少数派观点被证明是正确的。否认者经常把自己描绘成像伽利略反对罗马天主教会或魏格纳挑战地质学家权威那样的人。问题是,这些人通常混淆了科学对细节的争论和对总体理论的缺乏共识。此外,否认者利用科学是更大社会背景的一部分这一观点来暗示任何特定的观点都是偶然的,因此不值得信任。现代平地论者就是一个很好的例子。尽管人们相信地球是平的而不是球形的原因多种多样,但坚持这种信念意味着再多与他们的信念相矛盾的证据对他们来说都毫无意义。在很多方面,现代平地论者就像是停留在托马斯·库恩所说的科学发展“前科学”阶段的人。没有经过检验的核心知识体系(没有标明正确距离或太阳距离测量值的地图),每个信徒都有自己的一套信念(例如,有些人认为我们生活在一个在太空中移动的圆盘上,另一些人认为我们生活在一个静止的无限平面上),而且有一种感觉,其中隐藏着某种巨大的秘密,要么是全球阴谋隐藏真相,要么是大自然遵循一套与用来展示球形地球的规则不同的规则。虽然相信地球是平的本身基本上是无害的,但结合其他形式的反科学,就会发现有相当一部分人认为世界对他们来说太过复杂,变化太快,也太不确定。他们想要简单和确定。他们希望他们的感官成为现实的真正仲裁者,而不是某些物理教科书,里面有神秘而看不见的粒子和力,或者更疯狂的量子物理领域。
One of the results of the power of science and of concerns about the interference of funding agencies and industries has been a growing movement to deny the results of scientific research. Denialism is based on the idea that only 100 per cent agreement of scientists on a scientific topic is good enough to justify social action. This conflates two ideas that are commonly held by the general public. The first is that in an argument, both sides should be heard and given equal coverage. The second is that in the past minority views in science have been shown to be correct. Deniers often portray themselves as being like Galileo standing against the Roman Catholic Church or Wegener challenging the authority of geologists. The problem is that these people are usually confusing scientific debate over details with lack of consensus on the overarching theory. Additionally, deniers use the idea that science is part of a larger social context to suggest that any particular idea is contingent and therefore not to be trusted. A good example of this is the modern flat-earth community. Although there is a wide variety of reasons why people come to believe the Earth is flat rather than a globe, to maintain that belief means that no amount of evidence contradicting their belief has any meaning to them. In many ways, modern flat-earthers are like people stuck in Thomas Kuhn’s “pre-science” phase of scientific development. There is no central body of tested knowledge (no map with correct distances or measurement of the distance to the Sun), each believer has their own set of beliefs (for example, some believe we live on a disc moving through space, others believe we live on a stationary infinite plane), and there is a sense that there is some great secret involved, either in the form of a global conspiracy to hide the truth or that nature works by a different set of rules than those used to demonstrate the spherical earth. While a belief in a flat earth is largely harmless in itself, combined with other forms of anti-science reveals that a significant group of people are saying that the world is too much for them – too complex, changing too quickly and too uncertain. They want simplicity and certainty. They want their senses to be the true arbiter of reality, not some physics textbook with its mysterious and invisible particles and forces or the even crazier realm of quantum physics.
在全球范围内,我们可以将气候变化视为科学在更广泛社会中的地位之争的最大例证。气候变化否认论的某些方面类似于吸烟与癌症或酸雨存在之间的联系之争。在这两种情况下,大型商业利益都受到主流科学界的攻击,作为回应,这些利益集团资助或雇佣科学家来反驳或干脆否认科学证据。当这些努力失败时,他们试图通过辩称需要进行更多研究来掩盖公众对证据的接受,或者通过尽可能长时间地保持争议来推迟行动。游说政府官员并提起诉讼试图推翻法律法规,往往成为测试什么的试验场会拥有更多的权威:经济实力或科学知识。为大型企业利益集团工作的少数科学家经常将自己描绘成真理的斗士,并将自己与伽利略、爱因斯坦或魏格纳相提并论,但与伽利略、爱因斯坦或魏格纳不同,他们并没有做出任何新发现,只是攻击他人的发现。对那些认为大部分肺癌是由吸烟引起的或酸雨是由空气污染中的二氧化硫和氮氧化物引起的人的想法进行检验是完全合理的。然而,未能提供实际的科学证据往往表明相反的观点正在滑向否定主义,而不是真正的科学辩论。
On the global level we can look at climate change as the greatest demonstration of the fight over the place of science in the wider society. Some aspects of climate change denial are similar to the fight over the link between smoking and cancer or the existence of acid rain. In both cases, large commercial interests were under attack by the mainstream scientific community and in response those interests funded or hired scientists to counter or simply deny the scientific evidence. When that failed, they sought to obscure the public reception of the evidence by arguing that more study was needed or to delay action by keeping the controversy going for as long as possible. Lobbying government officials and bringing court cases to try to overturn laws and regulations often became a testing ground for what would have more authority: economic power or scientific knowledge. The minority scientists who worked for the large corporate interests have often portrayed themselves as crusaders for truth and compare themselves to Galileo, Einstein, or Wegner, but unlike Galileo, Einstein, or Wegener, they were not making any new discoveries, only attacking the discoveries of others. It is perfectly reasonable to test the ideas of those who said a large portion of lung cancers were caused by smoking or that acid rain was caused by sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in air pollution. However, failing to generate actual scientific evidence is often a signal that contrary opinions are sliding toward denialism rather than true scientific debate.
2005 年,卡特里娜飓风袭击美国海岸,造成 1800 多人死亡,损失达数十亿美元。这场飓风是本世纪最大的风暴,还是全球气候变化的一部分?创纪录的气温、冰川消融和对洋流变化的担忧都被认为是全球气候变化的一部分。气候变化的科学原理十分复杂,多年来,它已成为各种利益集团的战场,一方认为这是人为造成的,可能带来灾难,特别是如果我们不尽快采取重大措施限制温室气体排放的话。另一方则认为,气候实际上并没有受到人类活动的影响,与自然力量相比,人类活动微不足道,激进的活动将扼杀经济,只会浪费时间和金钱。双方都声称科学支持自己的观点。到 2015 年,科学界已达成普遍共识,超过 99% 的气候研究人员同意气候变化的主要因素是人为因素。尽管真理不是由共识决定的,但说服气候科学家的不是其他人的意见,而是他们自己的工作。共识遵循证据,而不是相反。虽然仍有强烈反对这一立场的人,但找到愿意站在气候变化否认者一边的可信科学家已经变得更加困难。另一方面,事实证明,如何应对气候变化与说服政府和工业界相信气候变化的存在一样困难。
In 2005 Hurricane Katrina crashed into the coast of the United States leaving behind more than 1,800 dead and doing billions of dollars of damage. Was the hurricane just the storm of the century, or was it part of global climate change? Record temperatures, receding glaciers, and concerns about changing ocean currents have all been pointed to as part of a much larger change in global climate. The science of climate change is complex, and over the years it has become a battleground for various interest groups, with one side arguing that it is human created and potentially catastrophic, especially if we do not take significant measures to limit greenhouse gases as soon as possible. The other side argues that the climate is not really being affected by human activity, which is minor compared to natural forces, and that radical activity will stifle the economy and do nothing but waste time and money. Each side has claimed that science supports its position. By 2015 the scientific community had reached a general consensus, with over 99 per cent of climate researchers agreeing that the major factors in climate change are anthropogenic (human made). Although truth is not determined by consensus, what convinced climate scientists was not the opinions of other people, but their own work. The consensus follows the evidence, not the other way around. While there are still strong advocates against this position, it has become more difficult to find credible scientists willing to take the side of the climate change deniers. On the other hand, what to do about climate change is proving just as difficult as persuading governments and industry that it exists.
政府间气候变化专门委员会 (IPCC) 已经明确表达了当前的科学立场。该委员会由世界气象组织和联合国环境规划署于 1988 年成立,从 1990 年到 2007 年发布了一系列四份评估报告。这些评估成为《联合国气候变化框架公约》的基础,该公约于 1997 年制定了《京都议定书》,这是一项减少温室气体排放的计划。2007 年,IPCC 与阿尔·戈尔共同获得诺贝尔和平奖。2014 年,IPCC 发布了第五份报告,第六份报告计划于 2022 年发布。IPCC 的有趣之处在于,它并不是一个进行科学研究的机构。相反,它收集了之前进行的所有科学研究,并通过民主程序决定当前的科学知识状况。
The prevailing scientific position has been articulated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This panel, created by the World Meteorological Organization and the UN Environment Program in 1988, produced a series of four assessment reports from 1990 to 2007. These assessments became the basis for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which in 1997 produced the Kyoto Protocol, a plan to reduce greenhouse gases. The IPCC received the Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with Al Gore, in 2007. In 2014 the IPCC released its fifth report and a sixth report is scheduled for 2022. What is interesting about the IPCC is that it is not a body that conducts scientific research. Rather, it gathers all the scientific research previously conducted and decides, through democratic processes, what the current state of scientific knowledge is.
199 个国家同意在 2010 年前遵守《京都议定书》,尽管日本和俄罗斯表示不会设定新目标,加拿大于 2012 年正式退出《京都议定书》。2015 年在巴黎举行的联合国气候变化大会 (COP 21) 达成了一项新协议,采取更强有力的措施减少温室气体排放,以将全球变暖控制在 2ºC 以下。尽管采取了这些行动,地球的平均温度仍在继续上升,各国和工业界扭转这一局面的能力将对科学和政府都造成沉重的负担。这场冲突的历史揭示了将科学应用于政治和经济问题的难度。发展中国家不想停止增加经济活动,并指出按人均计算,他们的污染远低于发达国家的人民。工业国家抵制仅适用于发达国家工业的法规,指出发展中国家的工业通常监管不力,使用陈旧技术。从科学的角度来看,谁制造污染可能并不重要,但从政治的角度来看,这肯定很重要。土耳其、伊朗、伊拉克、利比亚和也门等多个国家拒绝签署该协议。美国于 2017 年拒绝签署该协议条款并于 2020 年正式退出,这对全球协议造成了重大打击。这表明,在我们前进的过程中,科学家和社会科学家需要与公众合作,以塑造政府支持并改变社会态度和行为,并利用技术改变行业。
One hundred and ninety-nine states agreed to follow the Kyoto Protocol by 2010, although Japan and Russia have said they would not set new targets and Canada formally withdrew from the Protocol in 2012. The UN Climate Change Conference of 2015 (COP 21) in Paris resulted in a new agreement to take stronger measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in order to keep global warming below 2ºC. Despite these actions, the average temperature of the Earth continues to rise, and the ability of states and industry to turn this around will tax both science and governments. The history of this conflict reveals the difficulty of applying science to problems with political and economic implications. Developing countries don’t want to stop increasing their economic activity and point out that on a per-person basis they pollute far less than people in developed countries. Industrial nations have resisted regulations that apply only to industry in developed countries, pointing out that industries in developing countries are often poorly regulated and use old technology. From a scientific point of view it may not matter who produces the pollution, but from a political point of view it certainly does. A number of countries refused to sign the agreement including Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen. A major blow to the global agreement was the rejection of the terms of the agreement by the United States in 2017 and its formal withdrawal in 2020. This demonstrates the need, as we move forward, for scientists and social scientists to work together with the public to shape government support and change social attitudes and behaviors as well as using technology to change industry.
2019 年,当全世界得知一种新型冠状病毒出现时,科学的重要性得到了有力的证明。这种病毒被命名为 COVID-19(CO 代表冠状病毒,VI 代表病毒,D代表疾病,19 代表发现年份 [2019]),在短短几个月内就引发了一场席卷全球的流行病。虽然它的死亡率需要几年时间才能准确衡量,但大多数工业化国家的死亡率在 2% 到 4% 之间感染。这造成了严重破坏,边境关闭,企业停止运营,人们被敦促或命令留在家中。
The importance of science was forcefully demonstrated in 2019 when the world learned about the appearance of a new form of coronavirus. Named COVID-19 (CO from corona, VI from virus, D for disease, and 19 for the year it was identified [2019]), the virus created a pandemic that spread across the globe in a few months. Although its mortality rate will take several years to accurately measure, most industrial nations had death rates between 2 per cent and 4 per cent of those infected. This created havoc as borders closed, businesses stopped operating, and people were urged or ordered to stay home.
流行病并非新鲜事物——历史上著名的流行病包括黑死病(1347 年),当时某些地方的死亡率高达 66%,以及 1918 年的流感大流行,当时全球 3% 至 5% 的人口死于该病。COVID-19 的不同之处在于科学界能够动员起来分析病毒并提出防止其进一步传播的建议。在它出现后的几周内,就出现了大量有关该病毒的信息,从电子显微镜图像到病毒遗传物质图谱。在撰写本文时,已有十多种疫苗正在试验中,治疗方案已大大降低了死亡率。
Pandemics are not new – notable historical pandemics include the Black Death (1347), when the mortality rate was as high as 66 per cent in some places, and the influenza pandemic of 1918, when between 3 per cent and 5 per cent of the population of the world died. The difference with COVID-19 was the ability of the scientific community to mobilize to analyze the virus and offer advice for preventing its further spread. Within a few weeks of its appearance, there were massive amounts of information about the virus ranging from electron microscope images to maps of the genetic material of the virus. At the time of writing, more than a dozen vaccines are in trials and treatment protocols have lowered the mortality rate significantly.
尽管科学家和医学研究人员在争夺治疗药物的同时,为阻止新冠病毒的传播付出了巨大的努力,但疫情的影响因地而异。在医疗体系强大、政府听取流行病学家和其他科学家建议的国家,疫情的影响小于医疗体系薄弱或政府拒绝听从专家建议的国家。因此,2020 年 10 月 20 日,美国对新冠病毒的应对措施不力、支离破碎,每百万人确诊 25,453 例,死亡 224,027 人;而新西兰的应对措施严谨,每百万人确诊 384 例,死亡 25 人。虽然一个小岛国比美国有一些天然优势,但另一个岛国英国每百万人确诊 11,627 例,死亡 45,712 人。2英国的医疗体系很好,但政府反应迟缓,政客们经常与自己的专家意见相左。遵循科学建议的国家比政客们忽视或轻视专家建议的国家表现更好。这一事实是否会让政客和公众在未来更加关注科学,这将是一件有趣的事情。
Despite the major effort by scientists and medical researchers to defend against the spread of COVID-19 while the race for treatments was on, the impact of the pandemic was very different depending on where in the world you lived. In countries with strong medical systems and governments that listened to the advice of epidemiologists and other scientists, the impact of the disease was less than in countries that had poor medical systems or governments that refused to follow advice from experts. Thus, on October 20, 2020, the United States, with a poorly handled and fragmented response to COVID, had 25,453 cases per million people and 224,027 deaths, while New Zealand had a rigorous response with 384 cases per million people and only 25 deaths. While a small island nation has some natural advantages over the United States, another island nation, the United Kingdom, had 11,627 cases per million people and 45,712 deaths.2 The United Kingdom’s medical system is good, but the government response was slow and politicians were frequently at odds with their own experts. Countries that followed scientific advice have done better than comparable countries where politicians ignored or downplayed expert advice. It will be interesting to see if this fact makes politicians and the public more attentive to science in the future.
虽然冷聚变的案例表明了商业压力的危险,而气候变化的斗争则代表了除了科学之外,我们的科学时代也导致人们用看似科学但实际上是错误甚至是欺诈的观点欺骗民众。“伪科学”一词指的是声称某事物是科学的,但缺乏实际的科学证据。伪科学的主要问题在于,使用或应用此类观点或产品会耗费资源,甚至会危及人类安全。在某些情况下,伪科学信仰的历史基础是有一定道理的,比如李先科使用的春化作用或颅相学中通过头骨形状决定性格的观点。在这些情况下,最初合理的假设被证明是错误的,这一过程在科学中随时都会发生。它们之所以成为伪科学,是因为尽管有实际证据证明事实相反,但仍有相当多的人继续相信它们。
While the case of cold fusion demonstrates the dangers of commercial pressures and the fight over climate change represents the problem of the political utility of science, our scientific age has also produced a rise in efforts to deceive people by using ideas that sound like science, but are in fact wrong or even fraudulent. The term “pseudoscience” refers to claims that something is scientific but lacks actual scientific evidence. The major problem with pseudoscience is that the use or application of such ideas or products uses up resources and can even endanger people. In some cases, the historical foundation of pseudoscientific beliefs had some justification such as vernalization used by Lysenko or the idea that personality could be determined by the shape of the skull in phrenology. In these cases what started as a reasonable hypothesis was demonstrated to be false, a process that happens all the time in science. They became pseudoscience because significant numbers of people continued to believe in them despite actual evidence to the contrary.
西方历史上最臭名昭著的伪科学是顺势疗法。顺势疗法领域由塞缪尔·哈内曼 (Samuel Hahnemann,1755-1843) 于 1796 年创立,当时细菌致病理论尚未发现,放血疗法在医生中仍很常见。哈内曼的动机是好的——不伤害——但他创建了一个基于纯粹幻想的体系。顺势疗法理论的核心是基于“以毒攻毒”的理念,例如,如果你发烧了,你应该吃一些会让你感觉热的东西,比如辣椒。
The most notorious pseudoscience in Western history has been homeopathy. The field of homeopathy was created in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843) in an era before the germ theory of disease was discovered and bleeding was still a common practice among physicians. Hahnemann’s impulse was a good one – do no harm – but he created a system based on pure fantasy. At its heart, homeopathic theory is based on the idea that “like cures like,” so that if, for example, you have a fever, you should take something that would make you feel hot such as chili peppers.
除了“以毒攻毒”这一格言之外,还有一个更加离奇的想法,即治疗剂量越低,治疗强度越大。这是通过将一份溶剂 (1C) 连续稀释到 100 份溶剂,然后重复进行来实现的。哈内曼经常使用 30C 稀释度(1 个活性成分分子兑 10 60 个溶质分子)。从分子角度来看,13C 顺势疗法药物不包含原始材料的单个分子。现代顺势疗法材料使用高达 200C 的稀释度。为了理解这个规模,200C 是 1:10 400,而可观测宇宙中的原子数量估计只有 10 80。换句话说,大多数顺势疗法药物只含有少量溶剂,通常是蒸馏水。即使原始材料具有一些医疗用途,它也不会在最终产品中发挥作用。
Added to the “like cures like” dictum was the even more fanciful idea that the lower the dose of the curative, the greater its curative strength. This is achieved by serial dilution of one part to one hundred parts of solvent (1C), and then repeated. Hahnemann often used 30C dilutions (1 molecule of active ingredient to 1060 molecules of solute). In molecular terms, a 13C homeopathic remedy does not contain a single molecule of the original material. Dilutions up to 200C are used in modern homeopathic materials. To understand the scale of this, 200C is 1:10400 while the estimated number of atoms in the observable universe is only 1080. In other words, most homeopathic remedies contain nothing but a small amount of solvent, usually distilled water. Even if the original material had some medical utility, it isn’t in the final product.
免疫学家雅克·本维尼斯特 (Jacques Benveniste,1935-2004) 曾试图挽救顺势疗法,声称水具有记忆力,因此稀释至无原始物质无关紧要。本维尼斯特和庞斯、弗莱施曼一样,都是受人尊敬的科学家,因此他的想法经过了科学检验,尽管这些想法违背了科学的基本原理甚至逻辑(例如,为什么水会记住顺势疗法物质,而不是它接触过的其他物质?)。1997 年,本维尼斯特走得更远,他声称记忆可以通过电话线传输,后来又通过互联网传输。少数人声称复制了本维尼斯特的作品,但在第三方观察下,他们每次都无法复制该作品。
The immunologist Jacques Benveniste (1935–2004) tried to rescue homeopathy with claims that water had memory, so that dilution to no original material was irrelevant. Because Benveniste, like Pons and Fleischmann, was a respected scientist, his ideas were scientifically tested even though they defied basic principles of science and even logic (why, for example, would the water remember the homeopathic material and not everything else it had been in contact with?). Benveniste went even further in 1997 when he argued that the memory could be transmitted over telephone lines and later over the internet. A small number of people claimed to have replicated Benveniste’s work, but in every case they failed to replicate the work when observed by third parties.
顺势疗法之所以能持续存在,是因为有名人的支持,以及许多人对医疗系统问题的恐惧。虽然科学家研究顺势疗法是完全合理的,但说这种疗法毫无用处也是完全合理的。然而,它们确实对那些可能不寻求真正医疗帮助的人构成了威胁,而且它们还可能通过使用顺势疗法“疫苗”将其他人置于危险之中,因为这种疫苗为易于控制的传染病的复发开辟了道路。
Homeopathy has depended for its continued existence on the support of celebrities and the fear of many people about the problems with the medical system. While it was perfectly reasonable for scientists to investigate homeopathic remedies, it is also perfectly reasonable to say that such remedies have no utility. They do, however, pose a threat to people who may not seek real medical help and they may also put others at risk by the use of homeopathic “vaccinations” that open a path for infectious diseases that are easily controlled to reoccur.
随着科学在塑造社会方面发挥的作用越来越大,人们总是抵制它所带来的变化。从某种程度上来说,谨慎地将新产品引入复杂的系统是明智的。正如技术评论家尼尔·波兹曼(Neil Postman,1931-2003)所指出的那样,引入一种新“事物”——无论是设备、实践还是意识形态——都会改变社会。这不是“社会加上计算机”,而是一个新社会。3科学在社会中的难题在于,科学的生产者可能不是判断其产品将产生什么影响的最佳人选;然而,由于这项工作的技术性很强,那些缺乏培训的人可能对这项工作的理解不够充分,无法做出明智的选择。错误、有缺陷的工作和其他问题是不可避免的,DDT、沙利度胺和优生学的例子应该是一个警告,即科学错误可能会带来危险的后果。然而,会出现问题并不意味着应该拒绝科学。相反,这意味着我们必须努力了解利用科学发展带来的潜在好处和问题。
As science has had a greater and greater role in shaping society, there has always been resistance to the changes it offers. At one level, it is wise to be cautious about the introduction of new products in a complex system. As the critic of technology Neil Postman (1931–2003) pointed out, the introduction of a new “thing” – be it a device, practice, or ideology – changes society. It is not “society plus the computer,” but a new society.3 The conundrum of science in society is that the producers of science may not be the best people to judge what the impact of their products will be; however, because of the highly technical nature of the work, those who lack training may not understand the work well enough to make informed choices. Errors, flawed work, and other problems are inevitable, and the examples of DDT, thalidomide, and eugenics should stand as a warning that scientific mistakes can have dangerous consequences. The fact that there will be problems does not, however, mean that science should be rejected. Rather, it means that we must work to understand the potential benefits and problems of using scientific developments.
科学研究代表着社会需求、技术限制以及个人兴趣和能力的复杂相互作用。它并非完全由想法驱动,但也不能按订单生产。虽然科学为自然结构提供了一些深刻的见解,但它也为我们带来了一些关于如何使用这些知识的难题。具有讽刺意味的是,了解得越多,我们的选择就越困难,而不是越容易。了解科学史为解决这些难题提供了另一种途径,因为它可以向我们展示过去选择的力量和危险,并解释我们如何来到我们生活的世界。例如,科学被认为是马克思主义和现代民主的基础。
Scientific research represents a complex interplay of social demands, technical constraints, and personal interests and abilities. It is not driven solely by ideas, but neither can it be produced to order. While science has provided some profound insights into the structure of nature, it has also presented us with some difficult questions about how to use that knowledge. Ironically, knowing more has made our choices more difficult rather than less. Understanding the history of science offers another venue for approaching these difficult questions, since it can show us the power and the danger of past choices and explain how we have arrived at the world we live in. Science has, for example, been claimed as the basis for both Marxism and modern democracy.
更为复杂的是,如今科学的公众形象更加鲜明。过去,普通人可能会阅读有关诺贝尔奖的文章,或者看到有关癌症可能治疗方法的报道。现在,几乎每个重要的科学活动都有一个网站。当欧洲核子研究中心(CERN ) 的物理学家于 2013 年宣布可能发现希格斯玻色子粒子(见图 13.3)并于 2017 年确认他们的工作时,公众可以访问 CERN 主页并了解发生了什么。任何拥有计算机的人都可以帮助研究各种项目,包括蛋白质折叠和寻找外星生命。虽然公众访问通常是积极的,但它也可能导致信息过载和不切实际的期望。
To complicate things even more, science today has a much more public face. In the past, the average person might read about the Nobel prizes or see reports about possible cures for cancer. Now, almost every important scientific event has a website. When the physicists at CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) announced the likely discovery of the Higgs boson particle (see figure 13.3) in 2013 and confirmed their work in 2017, the public could go to the CERN homepage and find out what was happening. Anyone with a computer can help do research on a variety of projects including protein folding and the search for extra-terrestrial life. While public access is generally positive, it can also lead to information overload and unrealistic expectations.
13.3 CMS 希格斯事件
13.3 CMS HIGGS EVENT
来源:CERN。http: //cdsweb.cern.ch/record/628469。根据 CC-BY-SA 条款获得许可(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)。
Source: CERN. http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/628469. Licensed under the terms of CC-BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
科学史之所以有用,是因为它揭示了科学的更广泛背景,而不仅仅是其产品。没有人拥有科学。如果我们希望做出明智的选择,我们永远不能忘记,科学的存在是因为人们创造了它,它不能脱离社会而存在。在所有专利、奖项和专业学位的背后,科学的理念——我们长期以来对理解自然的努力——以及从这种探索中散发出来的知识,都是我们人类共同遗产的一部分。
The history of science can be useful because it reveals the broader context of science rather than looking only at its products. No one owns science. If we wish to make informed choices, we must never forget that science exists because people created it, and it cannot exist separate from the community. Behind all the patents, prizes, and professional degrees, the idea of science – our long effort to understand nature – and the knowledge that radiates from that search are part of our shared human heritage.
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1.Stuart H. Orkin 和 Arno G. Motulsky,《NIH 基因治疗研究投资评估小组报告及建议》(马里兰州贝塞斯达:1995 年 12 月 7 日)。
1. Stuart H. Orkin and Arno G. Motulsky, Report and Recommendations of the Panel to Assess the NIH Investment in Research on Gene Therapy (Bethesda, MD: December 7, 1995).
2.冠状病毒仪表板(实时),“COVID-19 实时数据”,https://covidly.com/。
2. Coronavirus Dashboard (Live), “COVID-19 Real-Time Data,” https://covidly.com/.
3.尼尔·波兹曼(Neil Postman),《技术垄断》(纽约:Vintage,1993 年)。
3. Neil Postman, Technopoly (New York: Vintage, 1993).
当我们追溯现代科学混乱而又情境化的历史时,我们仍然会看到一个有着深厚欧洲根源的起源故事。虽然我们希望看到科学的产物具有普遍的应用性,但它的历史仍然非常以欧洲为中心。讲述现代科学发展的历史学家经常抹去不同人群和其他知识体系之间复杂的互动,而是追溯科学的一种必然性,即从其自身的内部逻辑中发展而来。我们可能还记得亚历克西斯·吉尼亚尔·德·圣普里斯特的名言:“历史也许是正确的,但我们不要忘记,它是由胜利者书写的。” 1本书开始挑战这种解释,并看到不同知识体系在对话和冲突中跨越时间和空间的相互联系。现代科学是不同知识体系的混合体,而不是欧洲模式对世界其他地区的胜利。这是一个持续的对话。
As we have traced the messy and situated history of modern science, we are still left with an origin story that has deep European roots. While we want to see the product of science as universal in its application, its history remains very Eurocentric. Historians telling of the development of modern science have often erased the complex interactions between different groups of peoples and other knowledge systems and instead traced a sort of inevitability of science, developing out of its own internal logic. We might remember Alexis Guignard de Saint-Priest’s dictum that “the history is right perhaps, but let us not forget, it was written by the victors.”1 This book has begun to challenge this interpretation and see the interconnections through time and space of different knowledge systems in conversation and in conflict. Modern science is a hybrid of different knowledge systems, rather than the triumph of the European model over the rest of the world. This is a continuing dialogue.
历史与科学一样,随着新信息、新声音和新对话塑造学科而不断发展。我们挑战后继的历史学家撰写一部以这些对话为重点的科学史,一种世界性的科学史,将各种科学之间的丰富联系放在首位。多年来的知识传统是故事的核心。如果我们考虑知识社区的非等级互动,这可以让我们更丰富地了解世界各地的科学发展以及当今的科学状况,特别是在与传统知识体系对话时。
History, like science, evolves as new information, new voices, and new conversations shape the discipline. We challenge historians who come after us to write a history of science that foregrounds these conversations, a sort of cosmopolitan history of science, that would place the rich interconnections of various intellectual traditions over the years at the center of the story. If we think about a nonhierarchical interaction of knowledge communities, this could lead to a richer way to understand both the development of science around the world, and the state of science today, particularly in dialogue with traditional knowledge systems.
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1.Alexis Guignard de Saint-Priest,“ ……l'histoire est juste peut-être,mais qu'on ne l'oublie pas,elle a été écrite par les vainqueurs,” Histoire de la royauté considérée dans ses origines,只是欧洲君主国的形成,卷。 2(巴黎:HI Delloye,1842 年),42。
1. Alexis Guignard de Saint-Priest, “… l’histoire est juste peut-être, mais qu’on ne l’oublie pas, elle a été écrite par les vainqueurs,” Histoire de la royauté considérée dans ses origines, jusqu’à la formation des principales monarchies de l’Europe, vol. 2 (Paris: H.I. Delloye, 1842), 42.
插图以斜体字标示页码
Illustrations indicated by page numbers in italics
阿伯拉尔,彼得,92 岁
Abelard, Peter, 92
抽象思维,3
abstract thinking, 3
法国科学院
Académie des Sciences
关于,169,169n3,171-2,213
化学和,216
chemistry and, 216
拿破仑和,242
Napoleon and, 242
科普和185
popularization of science and, 185
金星凌日,196
transit of Venus and, 196
哥廷根科学院,186
Academy of Sciences of Göttingen, 186
林切学院,169
Accademia dei Lincei, 169
水泥学院,169
Accademia del Cimento, 169
加法(数学),22
addition (mathematics), 22
巴斯的阿德拉德,83岁
Adelard of Bath, 83
阿德特,皮埃尔,216
Adet, Pierre, 216
高级研究计划局(ARPA),371
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), 371
亲和力理论(化学亲和力),168,252,269
affinity theory (chemical affinity), 168, 252, 269
伊丽莎白·阿加西,189
Agassiz, Elizabeth, 189
阿加西,路易斯,186
Agassiz, Louis, 186
爱克发,258
AGFA, 258
Agricola, Georgius, 119, 119–20
农业,2,52,307,324-5,355-7 。另请参阅植物学
agriculture, 2, 52, 307, 324–5, 355–7. See also botany
空气,早期实验,160 – 2 , 161 , 162 , 163 , 164 – 5 , 210。另请参阅化学
airs, early experiments, 160–2, 161, 162, 163, 164–5, 210. See also chemistry
阿尔伯马尔,克里斯托弗·蒙克公爵,202
Albemarle, Christopher Monck, Duke of, 202
炼金术
alchemy
方法,十三
approach to, xiii
维拉诺瓦大学的阿诺德,94岁
Arnold of Villanova, 94
在中国,69
in China, 69
词源, 56
etymology of, 56
Islamic scholarship and, 56, 58–60
贾比尔·伊本·哈伊安 (Jābir ibn Hayyān),58 – 9
Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber), 58–9
Miriam (Maria the Jewess), 57–8
牛顿,156
Newton, 156
《魔法石》,57,93,121,156
Philosopher’s Stone, 57, 93, 121, 156
目的, 56
purpose of, 56
放射性和285
radioactivity and, 285
使用的符号,57
symbols used in, 57
阿尔德罗万迪,乌利塞,201
Aldrovandi, Ulisse, 201
亚历山大·威廉,188
Alexander, William, 188
亚历山大·阿芙洛狄西亚,84岁
Alexander of Aphrodisias, 84
亚历山大大帝,15、18、66、68
Alexander the Great, 15, 18, 66, 68
阿尔加罗蒂,弗朗西斯科,187
Algarotti, Francesco, 187
算法,385
algorithms, 385
阿尔哈森 (ibn al-Haytham), 53 – 4 , 95
Alhazen (ibn al-Haytham), 53–4, 95
全联盟行星际通信研究学会 (OIMS),365
All-Union Society for the Study of Interplanetary Communications (OIMS), 365
《天文学大成》(托勒密),34、37、40、50、54、84、109
Almagest (Ptolemy), 34, 37, 40, 50, 54, 84, 109
α射线,282,285-6,289
奥尔索普,约瑟夫,371
Alsop, Joseph, 371
美国艺术与科学学院,186
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 186
美国科学促进会,307
American Association for the Advancement of Science, 307
American Chemical Society, 307, 379
美国星际学会(AIS),362
American Interplanetary Society (AIS), 362
American Philosophical Society, 186, 188–9
美洲,65、115、116、117-18 。另请参阅阿兹特克帝国;加拿大;玛雅文明;美利坚合众国
Americas, 65, 115, 116, 117–18. See also Aztec Empire; Canada; Maya civilization; United States of America
氨,308
ammonia, 308
Ampère, André Marie, 262–3, 269
分析引擎,386
Analytical Engine, 386
解析几何,147
analytic geometry, 147
解剖学
anatomy
盖伦,40,42-3,159
维萨里, 139 , 139 – 40 , 140 , 159
Vesalius, 139, 139–40, 140, 159
安德森,卡尔·D.,395
Anderson, Carl D., 395
安德森,罗伯特·格伦,356
Anderson, Robert Glenn, 356
animals, 8, 209. See also evolution
特拉勒斯的安特米乌斯,46岁
Anthemius of Tralles, 46
Antikythera mechanism, 27–8, 28
反疫苗运动,426
anti-vaccine movement, 426
阿波罗太空计划,368,372-3,374,376,394
Apollo space program, 368, 372–3, 374, 376, 394
阿普尔顿,爱德华,289
Appleton, Edward, 289
应用科学,384
applied science, 384
阿奎那,托马斯,71、89、90-1、92、101、135
Aquinas, Thomas, 71, 89, 90–1, 92, 101, 135
阿基米德,25-7、33、84
建筑,33,46,64,317
设计论证,238
argument from design, 238
萨摩斯的阿里斯塔古,9
Aristarchus of Samos, 9
阿里斯蒂普斯,亨利库斯,83 岁
Aristippus, Henricus, 83
亚里士多德
Aristotle
大约,15
about, 15
Alexander the Great and, 15, 18
阿奎那和,90
Aquinas and, 90
关于实验和测量,22,146,158
on experimentation and measurement, 22, 146, 158
人文主义者,105
humanists and, 105
伊本·鲁世德(阿威罗伊),71
Ibn Rushd (Averroes) on, 71
就此事而言,57
on matter, 57
中世纪时期,83、85-7、94-5、103-4
medieval period and, 83, 85–7, 94–5, 103–4
Philoponus 上,46
Philoponus on, 46
保存,40,43,44,45,53,75,84
preservation of, 40, 43, 44, 45, 53, 75, 84
妇女问题,174
on women, 174
军备竞赛,306,338-9,350
维拉诺瓦大学的阿诺德,94岁
Arnold of Villanova, 94
弗朗索瓦·马里·阿鲁埃(伏尔泰),156、181、187
Arouet, François-Marie (Voltaire), 156, 181, 187
Arrhenius, Svante August, 270, 274
艺术,现代,317
art, modern, 317
工匠,2,7,51,119,173
阿耶波多,67岁
Aryabhata, 67
浅田五龙247
Asada, Goryu, 247
阿育王大帝,68岁
Ashoka the Great, 68
星盘,61
astrolabes, 61
天文学
astronomy
阿兹特克人,65
Aztecs, 65
哥白尼,109-12,110,113-14,149
Copernicus, 109–12, 110, 113–14, 149
Jodrell Bank Telescope, 359, 360
开普勒,130,130-3,131,132
凯亚姆,55岁
Khayyam, 55
牛顿,113,152,153-4,154
视差,110
parallax, 110
第谷,111,112,112-13,130-1
Tycho, 111, 112, 112–13, 130–1
Van Allen radiation belts, 370, 370
另请参阅宇宙学
See also cosmology
返祖现象,302
atavism, 302
原子哲学。参见机械哲学
atomical philosophy. See mechanical philosophy
原子
atoms
原子量,249 – 50,269,269n1,273
atomic weights, 249–50, 269, 269n1, 273
Higgs boson particle, 434, 434
加拿大,68
Kanada on, 68
kinetic theory of gases, 272–3
mechanical philosophy and, 157–8
运动, 271
movement of, 271
反对,274
opposition to, 274
结构,285,285-6,286
另请参阅物质;物理学
See also matter; physics
奥杜邦,约翰·J.,186
Audubon, John J., 186
奥地利科学院,185
Austrian Academy of Sciences, 185
Averroes (Ibn Rushd), 70–1, 86
艾弗里,奥斯瓦尔德·西奥多,342
Avery, Oswald Theodore, 342
阿维森纳(伊本西那), 53 , 54 , 84 , 86 , 120
Avicenna (Ibn Sina), 53, 54, 84, 86, 120
阿兹特克帝国, 4 , 62 , 65 , 65 , 117
Aztec Empire, 4, 62, 65, 65, 117
Baartmann, Saartjie (Sarah), 224, 224n1
查尔斯·巴贝奇,243,244,385-6,387
Babbage, Charles, 243, 244, 385–6, 387
巴克斯,乔治·E.,421
Bachus, George E., 421
弗朗西斯·培根,144-5、146、158
Bacon, Francis, 144–5, 146, 158
培根,罗杰,88,89,89-90
智慧之家(Bait al-hikmah ), 50
Bait al-hikmah (House of Wisdom), 50
巴尔的摩,大卫,419
Baltimore, David, 419
Banks, Joseph, 197, 202–3, 204–5
巴丁,约翰,390
Bardeen, John, 390
巴罗,艾萨克,150
Barrow, Isaac, 150
巴斯夫, 308
BASF, 308
Bates, Henry Walter, 234–5, 238
贝特森,威廉,322
Bateson, William, 322
鲍达亚那,67岁
Baudhayana, 67
巴伐利亚科学与人文学院,186
Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 186
拜耳,258
Bayer, 258
拜耳,弗里德里希,258
Bayer, Friedrich, 258
贝歇尔,约阿希姆,211
Becher, Joachim, 211
Becquerel, Antoine Henri, 280, 282
贝居耶德尚库尔图瓦,AE,249
Béguyer de Chancourtois, A.E., 249
behavior, codes of, 177, 345–6
Bellarmine, Cardinal, 135, 136
贝尔电话实验室,359,374,375,390
Bell Telephone Laboratories, 359, 374, 375, 390
苯和苯环,255,255,264
benzene and benzene ring, 255, 255, 264
伯克纳,劳埃德 V.,352
Berkner, Lloyd V., 352
Berlin Academy of Science, 172, 176
柏林西非会议(1885年), 304,305,305
Berlin West Africa Conference (1885), 304, 305, 305
伯纳德·克劳德377
Bernard, Claude, 377
Berthelot,Marcellin,274
Berthelot, Marcellin, 274
Berthollet, Claude Louis, 215, 242
Berzelius, Jöns Jacob, 145, 249
贝塞尔,弗里德里希·威廉,358
Bessel, Friedrich Wilhelm, 358
Bethe, Hans Albrecht, 337, 339
Big Bang theory, 358–9, 375, 397
大科学,290,310,346,347,368-9,377,384
Big Science, 290, 310, 346, 347, 368–9, 377, 384
宾宁,格尔德,421
Binning, Gerd, 421
生物学,293、300、326、346、399。另请参阅解剖学;进化;遗传学
biology, 293, 300, 326, 346, 399. See also anatomy; evolution; genetics
Biruni, Abu Rayhan al-, 54, 63
毕胜106岁
Bi Sheng, 106
奥托·冯·俾斯麦,222、305、306
Bismarck, Otto von, 222, 305, 306
布莱克,约瑟夫,211,215,217
Black Death (bubonic plague), 98–100, 431
Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich, 224, 224
博阿斯,弗朗兹,321
Boas, Franz, 321
薄伽丘,98
Boccaccio, 98
博德利图书馆,202
Bodleian Library, 202
布尔哈夫,赫尔曼,210
Boerhaave, Herman, 210
波伊提乌斯 (Anicius Manlius Severinus), 44 , 75
Boethius (Anicius Manlius Severinus), 44, 75
亚历山大·博格丹诺夫
Bogdanov, Alexander
红星364
Red Star, 364
玻尔、尼尔斯,286、319、331、333、335
Bohr, Niels, 286, 319, 331, 333, 335
邦迪,赫尔曼,358
Bondi, Hermann, 358
《秘密之书》(Liber Aggregationis),87 – 8
Book of Secrets (Liber Aggregationis), 87–8
博世,卡尔,307
Bosch, Carl, 307
博斯科维奇,罗杰·约瑟夫,195
Boscovich, Roger Joseph, 195
botany, 72, 205. See also agriculture
Bougainville, Louis-Antoine de, Comte, 205–6
Boveri,Theodor,304
Boveri, Theodor, 304
博耶,赫伯特,403
Boyer, Herbert, 403
罗伯特·博伊尔
Boyle, Robert
空气实验, 158,160-2,162
air experiments, 158, 160–2, 162
背景,160
background, 160
气压计和164
barometer and, 164
霍布斯和,183
Hobbes and, 183
机械哲学,157
mechanical philosophy and, 157
声誉, 173
reputation of, 173
scientific ideology and, 176–7
布拉德纳,休,421
Bradner, Hugh, 421
布拉格,威廉·亨利,277
Bragg, William Henry, 277
布拉格,威廉·劳伦斯,277
Bragg, William Lawrence, 277
第谷·布拉赫,111、112、112 – 13、130 – 1
Brahe, Tycho, 111, 112, 112–13, 130–1
婆罗摩笈多,67岁
Brahmagupta, 67
布拉顿,沃尔特,390
Brattain, Walter, 390
布伦纳,悉尼,403
Brenner, Sydney, 403
布里奇沃特,弗朗西斯·亨利·埃格顿伯爵,238
Bridgewater, Francis Henry Egerton, Earl of, 238
布里奇曼,珀西,341
Bridgman, Percy, 341
英国
Britain
化学学会,250
Chemical Society, 250
新冠肺炎疫情,431
COVID-19 pandemic, 431
地质调查,225
geological surveys by, 225
大型国际博览会,244
Great International Exhibition, 244
百年战争,99
Hundred Years’ War, 99
自然科学荣誉学位,266
Natural Sciences Tripos, 266
核武器,339
nuclear weapons, 339
科普,187
popularization of science, 187
皇家矿业学院,245
Royal School of Mines, 245
scientific societies, 206–7, 243–4
第一次世界大战,308
WWI, 308
二战解密程序,387
WWII decryption program, 387
另请参阅伦敦皇家学会
See also Royal Society of London
英国科学促进会(BAAS ),228,229,237,242,243-4,272,307
British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS), 228, 229, 237, 242, 243–4, 272, 307
大英博物馆,202
British Museum, 202
布罗意,路易·德,319
Broglie, Louis de, 319
雅各布·布罗诺夫斯基115
Bronowski, Jacob, 115
布朗,罗伯特,284
Brown, Robert, 284
布朗运动,284
Brownian motion, 284
布鲁尼,莱昂纳多,104岁
Bruni, Leonardo, 104
布鲁诺·吉奥达诺111
Bruno, Giordano, 111
布莱恩,威廉·詹宁斯,329
Bryan, William Jennings, 329
气泡室,396
bubble chamber, 396
bubonic plague (Black Death), 98–100, 431
巴克兰,威廉,238
Buckland, William, 238
buckminsterfullerene (bucky balls), 421, 421
Buffon, George Louis Leclerc, Comte de, 199, 229
本生,罗伯特,249
Bunsen, Robert, 249
本生灯,249
Bunsen burner, 249
比萨的勃艮第,83
Burgundio of Pisa, 83
伯内特,托马斯,198
Burnet, Thomas, 198
Bütschli,Otto,304
Bütschli, Otto, 304
伯恩斯·詹姆斯,337
Byrnes, James, 337
拜占庭帝国,46 – 7 年,48 年,80 – 1 年。另请参阅君士坦丁堡;罗马帝国
Byzantine Empire, 46–7, 48, 80–1. See also Constantinople; Roman Empire
calculators, mechanical, 385–7
微积分,147
calculus, 147
日历
calendars
贾拉利日历,55
Jalali calendar, 55
玛雅,64岁
Maya, 64
卡利尼库斯,46岁
Callinicus, 46
caloric theory, 215, 215, 270–1
剑桥大学,84
Cambridge University, 84
加拿大,311,317,334-5,339,407n2,430
Canada, 311, 317, 334–5, 339, 407n2, 430
Cannizzaro, Stanislao, 249, 269
卡内基,安德鲁,236
Carnegie, Andrew, 236
卡诺,拉扎尔,242
Carnot, Lazare, 242
Carnot, Nicolas Léonard Sadi, 271–2
卡森,雷切尔,399,400,401
卡特,吉米,402
Carter, Jimmy, 402
制图学,37,39,62-3,114,117,197,205
cartography, 37, 39, 62–3, 114, 117, 197, 205
阴极射线和阴极射线管,xiv,275,276,279,284,374
cathode rays and cathode ray tube, xiv, 275, 276, 279, 284, 374
天主教会。参见基督教;罗马天主教会
Catholic Church. See Christianity; Roman Catholic Church
Cavendish, Henry, 176, 211, 212, 266
Cavendish Laboratory, 266, 313
cellular biology, 300, 326. See also genetics
摄氏,安德斯,218
Celsius, Anders, 218
水泥,液压,33
cement, hydraulic, 33
中央情报局(CIA),371
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 371
CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire), 434–5
切西,费德里科,169
Cesi, Federico, 169
查德威克·詹姆斯,289
Chadwick, James, 289
张敏觉,392
Chang, Min Chueh, 392
change, 11–12. See also motion
查普曼,悉尼,352
Chapman, Sydney, 352
夏特莱-洛蒙,埃米莉·德·布勒特伊侯爵夫人,181 , 187
Châtelet-Lomont, Emilie de Breteuil, Marquise du, 181, 187
化学亲和力(亲和力理论),168,252,269
chemical affinity (affinity theory), 168, 252, 269
化学学会,250
Chemical Society, 250
化学
chemistry
亲和力理论,168,252,269
affinity theory, 168, 252, 269
空气,早期实验(空气化学),160 – 2,161,162,163,164 – 5,210
airs, early experiments (pneumatic chemistry), 160–2, 161, 162, 163, 164–5, 210
苯和苯环,255,255,264
benzene and benzene ring, 255, 255, 264
buckminsterfullerene (bucky balls), 421, 421
本生灯,249
Bunsen burner, 249
caloric theory, 215, 215, 270–1
classification and periodic table, 249–50, 250–2, 251
学科,发展,160,209-10,215-16,248-9,379
discipline, development of, 160, 209–10, 215–16, 248–9, 379
伊壁鸠鲁派和,17
Epicureans and, 17
in Germany, 255–6, 258–9, 307–8
卡尔斯鲁厄会议 (1860),269
Karlsruhe Congress (1860), 269
organic compounds, 252–5, 254n3
燃素理论,211,212,213,214-15,216,270
phlogiston theory, 211, 212, 213, 214–15, 216, 270
与物理相比,274、318、346
聚合物,284
polymers, 284
英国皇家化学学院,256
Royal College of Chemistry, 256
另请参阅原子;物质
See also atoms; matter
切特维里科夫,谢尔盖,324
Chetverikov, Sergei, 324
中国
China
算盘,384
abacus, 384
炼金术,69
alchemy, 69
international contacts, 51, 66, 70
麦卡特尼使命,197
McCartney mission to, 197
natural philosophy in, 66, 68–70
印刷机,106
printing press, 106
火箭,361
rockets, 361
基督教
Christianity
炼金术和93
alchemy and, 93
Galileo and Catholic Church, 135–7, 241
大分裂,99
Great Schism, 99
机械哲学,157
mechanical philosophy and, 157
natural philosophy and, 44–6, 80
自然神学,238
natural theology, 238
Protestant Reformation, 134, 137–8
science, relationship to, 240–1
chromosomes, 303–4, 322, 323, 342
Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero), 33, 84, 104
civilizations, early, 2–3, 4–5
克拉克·詹姆斯,256
Clark, James, 256
克拉克,亚瑟·C.,373
Clarke, Arthur C., 373
克拉克,塞缪尔,147
Clarke, Samuel, 147
分类
classification
克拉维乌斯,克里斯托弗,134
Clavius, Christoph, 134
克利奥帕特拉33岁
Cleopatra, 33
climate change, 428–30. See also environmental movement
时钟
clocks
Chinese mechanical clock, 69, 70
导航和193
navigation and, 193
云室,395
cloud chamber, 395
罗马俱乐部
Club of Rome
增长的极限,401
Limits of Growth, The, 401
科恩,斯坦利,403
Cohen, Stanley, 403
科尔伯特,让-巴蒂斯特,171
Colbert, Jean-Baptiste, 171
冷战,339、346、350-1、367、380 。另请参阅核武器;太空竞赛
Cold War, 339, 346, 350–1, 367, 380. See also nuclear weapons; space race
科尔·汉弗莱,151
Cole, Humphry, 151
收集
collecting
colonialism and scientific expeditions, 202–6, 222–3
受欢迎程度,238
popularity of, 238
殖民主义(帝国主义)
colonialism (imperialism)
柏林西非会议(1885年), 304,305,305
Berlin West Africa Conference (1885), 304, 305, 305
collecting and classification, 202–6, 222–4
优生学和327
eugenics and, 327
进化和233
evolution and, 233
地质和225
geology and, 225
导航和193
navigation and, 193
科学出口,246
science exportation, 246
社会达尔文主义,236
social Darwinism and, 236
巨人计算机,387
Colossus computer, 387
Columbus, Christopher, 108–9, 116
communication, scientific, 172–3. See also journals, scientific
communication satellites, 373, 374–5
康普顿,亚瑟,334
Compton, Arthur, 334
计算设备
computing devices
计算尺,385
slide rules, 385
solid state transistor, 389–91, 390
冯·诺依曼,389
von Neumann, 389
奥古斯特·孔德,241
Comte, Auguste, 241
一致性,425
consilience, 425
君士坦丁堡,43 – 4,46,47,80 – 1,105
Constantinople, 43–4, 46, 47, 80–1, 105
康威,安妮,174
Conway, Anne, 174
Cook, James, 196, 203, 203–4, 223
Cooke, William Fothergill, 267–8
尼古拉斯·哥白尼,61、109 – 12、110、113 – 14、135、149
Copernicus, Nicholas, 61, 109–12, 110, 113–14, 135, 149
corporate world, and science, 425–6
微粒哲学。参见机械哲学
corpuscular philosophy. See mechanical philosophy
科伦斯,CE,303
Correns, C.E., 303
宇宙学
cosmology
Big Bang vs. Steady State theories, 357–9, 375, 397
在中国,69
in China, 69
欧多克索斯,35岁
Eudoxus, 35
柏拉图,15
Plato, 15
米利都的泰勒斯,7
Thales of Miletus, 7
另请参阅天文学
See also astronomy
克里克,弗朗西斯,343 – 5,345,346,403
Crick, Francis, 343–5, 345, 346, 403
克鲁克斯,威廉,275
Crookes, William, 275
晶体学,277
crystallography, 277
古巴导弹危机,376
Cuban Missile Crisis, 376
安德烈亚斯·库奈乌斯,191
Cunaeus, Andreas, 191
雅克·居里夫人,281
Curie, Jacques, 281
Curie, Marie Sklodowska, 281–2, 382
皮埃尔·居里夫人,281
Curie, Pierre, 281
卡斯伯森,约翰,189
Cuthbertson, John, 189
乔治·居维叶,224、225-7、228、229、230
Cuvier, Georges, 224, 225–7, 228, 229, 230
达盖尔,路易斯,277
Daguerre, Louis, 277
达尔康之盾, 393
Dalkon Shield, 393
黑暗时代。参见中世纪
Dark Ages. See medieval period
达罗,克拉伦斯,329
Darrow, Clarence, 329
查尔斯·达尔文
Darwin, Charles
作为业余科学家,241
as amateur scientist, 241
美国哲学学会和,189
American Philosophical Society and, 189
分类和, 208
classification and, 208
关于进化,232-5,233,237
拉马克和,230
Lamarck and, 230
Lyell 和,228
Lyell and, 228
孟德尔和,302
Mendel and, 302
泛生论,300
pan-genesis theory, 300
种族主义, 327
racism of, 327
supporters and detractors, 237–8, 238–9
另请参阅进化
See also evolution
达尔文,伊拉斯谟,230
Darwin, Erasmus, 230
戴维斯,休·J.,393
Davis, Hugh J., 393
戴维·汉弗莱,264
Davy, Humphry, 264
《独立宣言》,189
Declaration of Independence, 189
德福雷斯特,李,374
Deforest, Lee, 374
德利斯勒,约瑟夫-尼古拉斯,196
Delisle, Joseph-Nicolas, 196
德米特里厄斯·法勒隆,23岁
Demetrius Phaleron, 23
德谟克利特,17、33、68、157
丹麦,185
Denmark, 185
德萨格利埃,让,187
Desaguliers, Jean, 187
笛卡尔,勒内
Descartes, René
公理、争论和22
axioms, debate over, and, 22
背景,145
background, 145
论光,167
on light, 167
数学和,55,146-7,148
mathematics and, 55, 146–7, 148
就物质而言,210
on matter, 210
机械哲学,157
mechanical philosophy and, 157
牛顿和,150,154,158
关于折射,166
on refraction, 166
Diamond诉Chakrabarty(1980),406-7
Diamond v. Chakrabarty (1980), 406–7
迪克·罗伯特,375
Dicke, Robert, 375
丹尼斯·狄德罗,184、185、188
差分机,385,386,387
Difference Engine, 385, 386, 387
迪格斯,托马斯,113
Digges, Thomas, 113
Dinawari,52岁
Dinawari, al-, 52
DNA ,254,341-5,344,345,402-3 。另请参阅遗传学
DNA, 254, 341–5, 344, 345, 402–3. See also genetics
Döbereiner,Johann,249
Döbereiner, Johann, 249
多布然斯基,狄奥多西,324
Dobzhansky, Theodosius, 324
Dondi, Giovanni de, 天体时钟, 37 , 38
Dondi, Giovanni de, celestial clock, 37, 38
多恩伯格,沃尔特,363
Dornberger, Walter, 363
Draper, John William, 240, 241
让·巴蒂斯特·安德烈·大仲马,253
Dumas, Jean-Baptiste-André, 253
涂尔干,《埃米尔》,245
Durkheim, Émile, 245
地球
Earth
年龄,273
age, 273
运动,99
motion of, 99
半径,54
radius, 54
作为单个生物物理单位,350
as single biophysical unit, 350
另请参阅制图学;地质学
See also cartography; geology
伊士曼,乔治,277
Eastman, George, 277
埃克特,普雷斯珀,387
Eckert, Presper, 387
巴黎高等师范学院,245
École Normale Supérieure, 245
生态学。参见环境运动
ecology. See environmental movement
爱迪生,托马斯,384
Edison, Thomas, 384
埃里克·埃德伦德,270
Edlund, Eric, 270
教育
education
亚历山大,23
in Alexandria, 23
contemporary science education, 413–14
巴黎高等师范学院,245
École Normale Supérieure, 245
进化课程,329
evolution curriculum, 329
在德国,306
in Germany, 306
在日本,247
in Japan, 247
自然哲学,78
natural philosophy and, 78
自然科学荣誉学位,266
Natural Sciences Tripos, 266
博士学位(哲学博士)学位,92,306,382
PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) degree, 92, 306, 382
柏拉图学院(佛罗伦萨),106
Platonic Academy (Florence), 106
professionalization of science and, 242–3, 245
英国皇家化学学院,256
Royal College of Chemistry, 256
皇家矿业学院,245
Royal School of Mines, 245
大学,76,83,84-5,92
universities, 76, 83, 84–5, 92
埃及和埃及人
Egypt and Egyptians
物质世界,7
on material world, 7
埃尔利希,保罗 R.
Ehrlich, Paul R.
人口爆炸,401
Population Bomb, The, 401
爱因斯坦,阿尔伯特
Einstein, Albert
原子和分子,285
on atoms and molecules, 285
背景与反响,296,299-300,314
background and reception, 296, 299–300, 314
Germany, departure from, 330, 336
不可计量的流体,168
imponderable fluid and, 168
核武器和,332-3,337,341
nuclear weapons and, 332–3, 337, 341
艾森豪威尔,德怀特,367,368,369-70,371
Eisenhower, Dwight, 367, 368, 369–70, 371
电
electricity
阴极射线和阴极射线管,xiv,275,276,279,284,374
cathode rays and cathode ray tube, xiv, 275, 276, 279, 284, 374
电堆/电池,262
electric pile/battery, 262
电解,268
electrolysis, 268
magnetism and, 262–3, 264, 265
电解,268
electrolysis, 268
electronics industry, 384, 391. See also computing devices
电子,270,279,286,319
几何原本(欧几里得),23 – 4、44、50、54、83、109
Elements (Euclid), 23–4, 44, 50, 54, 83, 109
Elizabeth I (English queen), 124–5, 133
胚胎学研究,160
embryological studies, 160
帝国。参见殖民主义
empire. See colonialism
百科全书(狄德罗),184、185、188
Encyclopédie (Diderot), 184, 185, 188
能量理论,274,280,294
Energetik theory, 274, 280, 294
能量,261 – 2,273,274,289,298,320。另请参阅热力学
energy, 261–2, 273, 274, 289, 298, 320. See also thermodynamics
英格兰。参见英国
England. See Britain
ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), 387–8
启示
Enlightenment
炼金术,结束,210,217-18
定义,182
definition, 182
百科全书(狄德罗),184、185、188
Encyclopédie (Diderot), 184, 185, 188
Industrial Revolution and, 197–8, 207, 221
international scientific encounters, 196–7
measurement systems, 192–3, 218
科普,187
popularization of science, 187
scientific societies, 185–6, 186, 206–7
environmental movement, 399–402. See also climate change
环境保护署( EPA ) ,400、401、402
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 400, 401, 402
表观遗传学,328
epigenetics, 328
伊拉斯谟,德西德里乌斯,120
Erasmus, Desiderius, 120
Eratosthenes of Cyrene, xiv, 24, 25, 34
Esnault-Pelterie,罗伯特,362
Esnault-Pelterie, Robert, 362
以太理论,15,154,168,266,280,294-6,296,297,299
ether theory, 15, 154, 168, 266, 280, 294–6, 296, 297, 299
伊特鲁里亚人,31
Etruscans, 31
欧几里得
Euclid
天主教会,86
Catoptica, 86
Elements, 23–4, 44, 50, 54, 83, 109
光学, 86
Optica, 86
保存,44,45,50,83,84
preservation of, 44, 45, 50, 83, 84
欧多克索斯,35岁
Eudoxus, 35
巴勒莫的尤金尼乌斯,83岁
Eugenius of Palermo, 83
欧拉,莱昂哈德,194
Euler, Leonhard, 194
进化
evolution
钱伯斯,230
Chambers on, 230
Charles Darwin on, 232–5, 233, 237
伊拉斯谟·达尔文,230
Erasmus Darwin on, 230
教育课程和329
education curriculum and, 329
拉马克, 229-30,230
reception and critiques, 237–8, 238–9
探险,科学,195 – 6,202 – 6,222 – 3
expeditions, scientific, 195–6, 202–6, 222–3
实验
experimentation
亚里士多德论,22,146,158
一致性,425
consilience, 425
replicability and objectivity, 163–4
科学革命和158
scientific revolution and, 158
另请参阅科学仪器
See also scientific instruments
探索,114 – 17。另请参阅制图学;收集;殖民主义;航海
exploration, 114–17. See also cartography; collecting; colonialism; navigation
Explorer 1 satellite, 368, 370
加布里埃尔·华伦海特192
Fahrenheit, Gabriel, 192
法拉比,84岁
Farabi, al-, 84
法拉第,迈克尔,243,255,256,264-5,265,268
Faraday, Michael, 243, 255, 256, 264–5, 265, 268
Farghani, Abu ibn Kathir al-, 60–1
Farnsworth,Philo Taylor,374
Farnsworth, Philo Taylor, 374
穆罕默德·本·易卜拉欣·法扎里,61 岁
Fazari, Mohammad ibn Ibrahim al-, 61
发酵,245
fermentation, 245
恩里科·费米, 330 , 333 – 4 , 335 , 337
Fermi, Enrico, 330, 333–4, 335, 337
费拉罗,文森特,352
Ferraro, Vincent, 352
费耶阿本德,保罗,346
Feyerabend, Paul, 346
费曼,理查德,420
Feynman, Richard, 420
菲奇诺,马尔西利奥,106
Ficino, Marsilio, 106
芬奇,安妮,174
Finch, Anne, 174
第一次世界大战。参见第一次世界大战
First World War. See World War I
费舍尔,RA,325
Fisher, R.A., 325
菲索,阿尔芒,294
Fizeau, Armand, 294
地球平坦论社区,428
flat-earth community, 428
弗莱施曼,马丁,94n3,423-4
Fleischmann, Martin, 94n3, 423–4
弗莱明,瓦尔特,304
Flemming, Walther, 304
汤米·弗劳尔斯,387
Flowers, Tommy, 387
流体力学,154
fluid mechanics, 154
力量,153
force, 153
福柯,让·贝尔纳,294
Foucault, Jean Bernard, 294
安托万·弗朗索瓦·福克罗伊,215
Fourcroy, Antoine François de, 215
法国
France
巴黎高等师范学院,245
École Normale Supérieure, 245
关于百科全书(狄德罗),184
on Encyclopédie (Diderot), 184
法国大革命,201,216-17,218
French Revolution, 201, 216–17, 218
地质图,200
geological maps of, 200
百年战争,99
Hundred Years’ War, 99
科普,187
popularization of science, 187
科学协会,169
scientific societies, 169
另见科学院
See also Académie des Sciences
本杰明·富兰克林,186、187、188、190、191、202、206、212
Franklin, Benjamin, 186, 187, 188, 190, 191, 202, 206, 212
富兰克林,罗莎琳德,343,344,345
Franklin, Rosalind, 343, 344, 345
菲涅尔,奥古斯丁·让,194
Fresnel, Augustin Jean, 194
弗里德曼,亚历山大,397
Friedmann, Alexander, 397
弗罗本,约翰,120
Froben, Johann, 120
果蝇,323
fruit flies, 323
西吉斯蒙德·富格尔,120
Fugger, Sigismund, 120
富勒,R.巴克敏斯特,421
Fuller, R. Buckminster, 421
fullerenes (bucky balls), 421, 421
融合
fusion
氢弹, 339-40,340
盖伦
Galen
解剖学和医学,40,42-3,159
on anatomy and medicine, 40, 42–3, 159
背景,40
background, 40
帕拉塞尔苏斯,120
Paracelsus on, 120
保存,34,43,45,83
preservation of, 34, 43, 45, 83
伽利略·文森齐奥,126
Galilei, Vincenzio, 126
伽利略
Galileo
Accademia dei Lincei 和169
Accademia dei Lincei and, 169
关于阿基米德,27
on Archimedes, 27
论亚里士多德,46
on Aristotle, 46
背景,126
background, 126
conflict with Catholic Church, 134–7, 241
哥白尼和,114
Copernicus and, 114
关于开普勒,133
on Kepler, 133
运动时, 126,127,128
相对论和297
relativity and, 297
温度测量和192
temperature measurement and, 192
加莱拉尼,塞西莉亚,104
Gallerani, Cecelia, 104
伽罗瓦,埃瓦里斯特,245
Galois, Évarist, 245
Galton, Francis, 236–7, 327, 328
瓦斯科达伽马116
Gama, Vasco da, 116
伽马射线,282,289,299
加文,理查德·L.,340
Garwin, Richard L., 340
gases, kinetic theory of, 272–3. See also airs
Gaud,威廉,355
Gaud, William, 355
高斯,卡尔,268
Gauss, Karl, 268
盖-吕萨克,约瑟夫,268
Gay-Lussac, Joseph, 268
格贝尔 (Jābir ibn Hayyān), 58 – 9 , 84 , 93
Geber (Jābir ibn Hayyān), 58–9, 84, 93
葛洪69岁
Ge Hong, 69
盖斯勒,海因里希,275
Geissler, Heinrich, 275
盖尔曼,默里,396
Gell-Mann, Murray, 396
双子座,托马斯,151
Gemini, Thomas, 151
性别。参见女性
gender. See women
遗传学
genetics
chromosomes, 303–4, 322, 323, 342
DNA ,254,341-5,344,345,402-3
DNA, 254, 341–5, 344, 345, 402–3
表观遗传学,328
epigenetics, 328
进化的新综合,322-3,325-6
evolution’s new synthesis and, 322–3, 325–6
genetic therapy and modification, 417–20
messenger RNA (mRNA), 403, 404
核酸,342
nucleic acid, 342
patent issues, 406–7, 407nn1–2
人口研究,323
population studies, 323
重组DNA ,403,406,417-18
recombinant DNA, 403, 406, 417–18
sex-linked characteristics, 322, 323
社会影响,409
social implications, 409
地理学(托勒密), 37 , 39 , 40 , 62 – 3 , 116
Geographia (Ptolemy), 37, 39, 40, 62–3, 116
geography, 37, 39, 62. See also cartography; Earth
地质学
geology
殖民主义和225
colonialism and, 225
国际地球物理年( IGY ),350,352-3,354,380
International Geophysical Year (IGY), 350, 352–3, 354, 380
stratigraphical research, 228–9
均变论,201,227-8,231
uniformitarianism, 201, 227–8, 231
另请参阅地球
See also Earth
几何学
geometry
分析, 147
analytic, 147
发展,3
development of, 3
玛雅和64
Maya and, 64
非欧几里得,55
non-Euclidian, 55
Pythagorean theorem, 9–10, 10, 66
另请参阅数学
See also mathematics
乔治三世(英国国王),191、193、205
George III (British king), 191, 193, 205
克雷莫纳的杰拉德,84岁
Gerard of Cremona, 84
格伯特(教皇西尔维斯特二世),80
Gerbert (Pope Sylvester II), 80
查尔斯·弗雷德里克·格哈特,269
Gerhardt, Charles Frédéric, 269
德国物理学会,307
German Physical Society, 307
德国
Germany
chemistry in, 255–6, 258–9, 307–8
教育系统,306
education system, 306
帝国主义、工业化和科学发展,248,255,259,304-5,306-7,314
imperialism, industrialization, and scientific development, 248, 255, 259, 304–5, 306–7, 314
纳粹,328、329-30、331、336-7
Nazis, 328, 329–30, 331, 336–7
普鲁士科学院,185
Prussian Academy of Sciences, 185
scientific societies, 186, 307
scientists, escape from fascism, 336–7
tensions with neighbors, 305–6
统一,222
unification, 222
第二次世界大战,332
WWII, 332
细菌理论,245
germ theory, 245
雨果·根斯巴克362
Gernsback, Hugo, 362
吉布斯·威拉德,274
Gibbs, Willard, 274
吉尔伯特·汉弗莱,124
Gilbert, Humphrey, 124
Gilbert, William, 148, 188, 262
格拉泽,唐纳德·A.,396
Glaser, Donald A., 396
玻璃制造,51
glass-making, 51
格伦南,T.基思,371
Glennan, T. Keith, 371
global warming, 428–30. See also environmental movement
胶子,396
gluons, 396
戈达德,罗伯特·H.,362
Goddard, Robert H., 362
戈尔德,托马斯,358
Gold, Thomas, 358
尤金·戈尔茨坦,275
Goldstein, Eugen, 275
西比尔·戈托327
Gotto, Sybil, 327
格拉芬伯格,恩斯特,393
Grafenberg, Ernst, 393
格雷厄姆,托马斯,282
Graham, Thomas, 282
grand unified theories (GUTs), 195, 397
格兰特,乔治,387
Grant, George, 387
英国。参见英国
Great Britain. See Britain
Great Chain of Being, 207, 230
大型国际博览会,244
Great International Exhibition, 244
吉萨大金字塔,4
Great Pyramid of Giza, 4
大分裂,99
Great Schism, 99
希腊人
Greeks
Antikythera mechanism, 27–8, 28
阿基米德,25-7、33、84
哲学权力的终结,45
end of philosophical power, 45
伊壁鸠鲁派,17
Epicureans, 17
认识论和13
epistemology and, 13
Eratosthenes of Cyrene, xiv, 24, 25, 34
Heraclitus of Ephesus, 11–12, 13
喜帕普斯,10
Hippapus, 10
Hipparchus of Rhodes, 28, 34–5
humanist rediscovery of, 104–6
地图,6
map, 6
on mathematics, 8, 9–11, 10, 11
natural philosophy and, 1, 3–4
保存,40,43,44,45,53,75,83,84
preservation of, 40, 43, 44, 45, 53, 75, 83, 84
米利都的泰勒斯,7
Thales of Miletus, 7
另请参阅亚里士多德;拜占庭帝国;欧几里得;盖伦;柏拉图
See also Aristotle; Byzantine Empire; Euclid; Galen; Plato
绿色和平组织,401
Greenpeace, 401
格鲁,尼希米记,165
Grew, Nehemiah, 165
格里菲斯,弗雷德,342
Griffith, Fred, 342
赫尔穆特·格罗特鲁普364
Gröttrup, Helmut, 364
瓜里尼·达·维罗纳 (Guarino Guarini),104
Guarini da Verona (Guarino Guarini), 104
奥托·冯·格里克,161、161、177、188 – 9
Guericke, Otto von, 161, 161, 177, 188–9
盖塔尔,让·艾蒂安,200
Guettard, Jean Étienne, 200
冈特,埃德蒙,385
Gunter, Edmund, 385
古塞拉,詹姆斯,416
Gusella, James, 416
Gutenberg, Johannes, 100, 106–7
Guyton de Morveau,LB,215
Guyton de Morveau, L.B., 215
强子,396
hadrons, 396
哈格林,约翰,411
Hagelin, John, 411
圣索菲亚大教堂,46
Hagia Sophia, 46
Hahn, Otto, 314, 331, 332, 338
哈内曼,塞缪尔,432
Hahnemann, Samuel, 432
黑尔,乔治·埃勒里,358
Hale, George Ellery, 358
黑尔斯,斯蒂芬,211
Hales, Stephen, 211
汉密尔顿,亚历山大,188
Hamilton, Alexander, 188
汉考克,约翰,186
Hancock, John, 186
亨德尔,格奥尔格,202
Handel, Georg, 202
哈里奥特,托马斯,166
Harriot, Thomas, 166
哈里森,约翰,193
Harrison, John, 193
哈特利布,塞缪尔,170
Hartlib, Samuel, 170
Harun al-Rushid (Abbasid caliph), 50, 52
Harvard Mouse (oncomouse), 407, 407n2
Harvey, William, 158–60, 160, 174
桥本武彦247
Hashimoto, Takehiko, 247
海耶斯,丹尼斯,400
Hayes, Denis, 400
Hazama,Shigetomi,247
Hazama, Shigetomi, 247
热量,168,215,270-1 。另请参阅热力学
heat, 168, 215, 270–1. See also thermodynamics
海森堡,沃纳,314,319,320,332,338
Heisenberg, Werner, 314, 319, 320, 332, 338
贺建奎,419
He Jiankui, 419
赫林,罗伯特,403
Helling, Robert, 403
亥姆霍兹,赫尔曼·冯· 307
Helmholtz, Hermann von, 307
血红蛋白,283
hemoglobin, 283
亨斯洛,约翰·史蒂文斯,231
Henslow, John Stevens, 231
Heraclitus of Ephesus, 11–12, 13
赫尔墨斯主义,56
Hermeticism, 56
赫兹,海因里希·鲁道夫,276,276,279,288,307
Hertz, Heinrich Rudolf, 276, 276, 279, 288, 307
赫斯,哈里,354
Hess, Harry, 354
Higgs boson particle, 434, 434
喜帕普斯,10
Hippapus, 10
Hipparchus of Rhodes, 28, 34–5
Hippocratic medical theory, 40–1, 45
History of the Trades (Royal Society of London), 172, 173
阿道夫·希特勒,329 – 30、336、362 – 3、373
Hitler, Adolf, 329–30, 336, 362–3, 373
希托夫,约翰·威廉,275
Hittorf, Johann Wilhelm, 275
邦蒂号205
HMS Bounty, 205
霍布斯,托马斯,157,162,183
霍夫,雅各布斯·亨利克斯·范特,274
Hoff, Jacobus Henricus van ’t, 274
霍夫,特德,391
Hoff, Ted, 391
汉斯·霍尔拜因
Holbein, Hans
福尔摩斯,亚瑟,354
Holmes, Arthur, 354
胡克,罗伯特,152,155,160-2,165,165,166
Hooke, Robert, 152, 155, 160–2, 165, 165, 166
霍普金森,弗朗西斯,188
Hopkinson, Francis, 188
霍罗克斯,杰里迈亚,195
Horrocks, Jeremiah, 195
豪斯曼,AE,337
Housman, A.E., 337
Hubble, Edwin Powell, 358, 375, 397
哈勃太空望远镜,397
Hubble Space Telescope, 397
休森加,约翰·R.,423
Huizenga, John R., 423
human growth hormone (HGH), 418–19
人类
humans
分类,209,223-4,224
classification of, 209, 223–4, 224
Humboldt, Alexander von, 223, 242
侯奈因·伊本·伊斯哈格,50 岁
Hunayn ibn Ishaq, 50
百年战争,99
Hundred Years’ War, 99
卡特里娜飓风,429
Hurricane Katrina, 429
Hutton, James, 200–1, 225, 228
赫胥黎,托马斯·亨利,237
Huxley, Thomas Henry, 237
克里斯蒂安·惠更斯,148、166、167、193、266
Huygens, Christiaan, 148, 166, 167, 193, 266
hydrogen bomb (fusion), 339–40, 340
伊本·贝塔尔,52岁
Ibn al-Baitar, 52
伊本·海瑟姆、阿布·阿里·哈桑(Alhazen),53 – 4 , 95
Ibn al-Haytham, Abu Ali Hasan (Alhazen), 53–4, 95
伊本·豪卡尔,阿布·卡西姆·穆罕默德,63 岁
Ibn Hawqal, Abu al-Qasim Muhammad, 63
伊本·库拉,塔比特,84 岁
Ibn Qurra, Thabit, 84
伊本·拉什德、阿布·瓦利德·穆罕默德(阿威罗伊),70 – 1 , 86
Ibn Rushd, Abul-Waleed Muhammad (Averroes), 70–1, 86
伊本·西纳、阿布·阿里·侯赛因·本·阿卜杜拉(阿维森纳),53、54、84、86、120
Ibn Sina, Abu ’Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah (Avicenna), 53, 54, 84, 86, 120
Imperial and Royal Academy of Sciences and Letters of Brussels, 185–6
帝国主义。参见殖民主义
imperialism. See colonialism
不可计量的流体。参见热质理论;以太理论;燃素理论
imponderable fluids. See caloric theory; ether theory; phlogiston theory
印加人,117
Incas, 117
不可通约性,10
incommensurability, 10
独立分类法,302
independent assortment, law of, 302
印度,2 – 3 , 4 , 54 , 66 – 8 , 197 , 356
India, 2–3, 4, 54, 66–8, 197, 356
Indigenous peoples, 117–18, 414–15
Industrial Revolution (industrialization), 197–8, 207, 221
因费尔德,利奥波德,341
Infeld, Leopold, 341
仪器。参见科学仪器
instruments. See scientific instruments
洲际弹道导弹(ICBM),365、367、370-1
intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), 365, 367, 370–1
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 429–30
国际科学院协会,380
International Association of Academies, 380
国际医学期刊编辑委员会,426
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, 426
国际科学理事会( ICS;原国际科学联合会理事会(ICSU)),350,352,380
International Council of Science (ICS; formerly International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU)), 350, 352, 380
国际地球物理年( IGY ),350,352-3,354,380
International Geophysical Year (IGY), 350, 352–3, 354, 380
国际研究理事会,380
International Research Council, 380
宫内节育器 (IUD),393
intrauterine device (IUD), 393
离子,270
ions, 270
艾萨克斯,约翰·D.,421
Isaacs, John D., 421
米利都的伊西多尔,46岁
Isidore of Miletus, 46
伊斯兰帝国,47、48、80、114
Islamic empires, 47, 48, 80, 114
伊斯兰奖学金
Islamic scholarship
under Abbasid Caliphate, 50, 60, 62
农业,52
agriculture, 52
cartography and geography, 62–3
法拉比,84岁
Farabi, al-, 84
法扎里,61
Fazari, al- 61
玻璃制造,51
glass-making, 51
侯奈因·伊本·伊斯哈格,50 岁
Hunayn ibn Ishaq, 50
伊本·贝塔尔,52岁
Ibn al-Baitar, 52
Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), 53–4, 95
伊本·哈卡尔,63岁
Ibn Hawqal, 63
伊本·库拉,84岁
Ibn Qurra, 84
Ibn Rushd (Averroes), 70–1, 86
伊本·西纳(阿维森纳), 53 , 54 , 84 , 86 , 120
Ibn Sina (Avicenna), 53, 54, 84, 86, 120
贾比尔·伊本·哈伊安(Jābir ibn Hayyān)(格贝尔),58 – 9、84、93
Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber), 58–9, 84, 93
凯亚姆,55岁
Khayyam, 55
Khwarizmi, al-, 54, 60, 62, 67, 83
数学,54
mathematics, 54
拉齐 (Rhazes), 59 , 59 – 60 , 84 , 93
Razi, al- (Rhazes), 59, 59–60, 84, 93
沙蒂尔,61岁
Shatir, al-, 61
设拉子,61
Shirazi, al-, 61
图西,61岁
Tusi, al-, 61
西方,接触,71,76-7,109
West, contact with, 71, 76–7, 109
伊斯坦布尔。参见君士坦丁堡
Istanbul. See Constantinople
贾比尔·伊本·哈伊安(Jābir ibn Hayyān)(格贝尔),58 – 9、84、93
Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber), 58–9, 84, 93
雅各布,弗朗索瓦,403
Jacob, François, 403
雅卡尔,约瑟夫-玛丽,386
Jacquard, Joseph-Marie, 386
贾拉利日历,55
Jalali calendar, 55
Janes,LL,247
Janes, L.L., 247
卡尔·扬斯基359
Jansky, Karl, 359
Jansoon, Willem, 117
Jansoon, Willem, 117
日本,246 – 8,338,391,430
Jefferson, Thomas, 186, 188, 218
喷气推进实验室(加州理工学院),333
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Caltech), 333
Jodrell Bank Telescope, 359, 360
Joliot,Jean,330
Joliot, Jean, 330
约里奥-居里,弗雷德里克,341
Joliot-Curie, Frederic, 341
约里奥-居里,艾琳,330
Joliot-Curie, Irene, 330
Joule, James Prescott, 272, 272, 298
斯卡文斯杂志,172
Journal des Sçavans, 172
journals, scientific, 172–3, 425, 426–7
木星,394
Jupiter, 394
威廉皇帝学院,306
Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes, 306
加拿大,68岁
Kanada, 68
皮约特尔·列昂尼多维奇·卡皮察,375
Kapitsa, Pjotr Leonidovich, 375
卡尔斯鲁厄会议 (1860),269
Karlsruhe Congress (1860), 269
凯库勒,弗里德里希·奥古斯特,253、253-4、254、255
Kekulé, Friedrich August, 253, 253–4, 254, 255
开尔文,威廉·汤姆森勋爵,239,266,270,272,273
Kelvin, William Thomson, Lord, 239, 266, 270, 272, 273
开普勒,约翰尼斯
Kepler, Johannes
关于天文学,113,130,130-2,131,132
on astronomy, 113, 130, 130–2, 131, 132
日本天文学和247
Japanese astronomy and, 247
论光,166
on light, 166
赞助和125
patronage and, 125
金星凌日,195
on Venus, transit of, 195
邱园,204
Kew Gardens, 204
凯恩斯,约翰·梅纳德,337
Keynes, John Maynard, 337
奥马尔·海亚姆55 岁
Khayyam, Omar, 55
穆罕默德·本·穆萨·花剌子密,54、60、62、67、83
Khwarizmi, Muhammad ibn Musa al-, 54, 60, 62, 67, 83
基巴尔奇奇,尼古拉,361
Kibalchich, Nikolai, 361
基尔比,杰克,391
Kilby, Jack, 391
金迪,阿布·优素福·雅库布·伊本·伊萨克·阿克-萨巴赫·阿尔-, 63 , 84
Kindi, Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub ibn’ Isḥaq aṣ-Ṣabbaḥ al-, 63, 84
kinetic theory of gases, 272–3
基茨米勒诉多佛地区学区(2005),329
Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (2005), 329
克莱斯特,埃瓦尔德·尤尔根,191
Kleist, Ewald Jürgen, 191
知识
knowledge
early civilizations and, 2–3, 4–5
效用,xiv,76,172,313,409,413
utility of, xiv, 76, 172, 313, 409, 413
另请参阅科学
See also science
科赫,罗伯特,245
Koch, Robert, 245
儿玉秀夫422
Kodama, Hideo, 422
康斯坦丁诺夫,康斯坦丁,361
Konstantinov, Konstantin, 361
威廉·弗里德里希·库内,326
Kühne, Wilhelm Friedrich, 326
拉朗德,杰罗姆·德,196
Lalande, Jerome de, 196
让·巴蒂斯特·德·莫奈·拉马克,229 – 30 , 230
Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste de Monet de, 229–30, 230
λ粒子,395
lambda particles, 395
格奥尔基·兰格马克365
Langemak, Georgy, 365
拉彼鲁兹,让-弗朗索瓦·德加洛普,206
La Perouse, Jean-François de Galaup, 206
拉普拉斯,皮埃尔-西蒙,194、195、215、242、270
Laplace, Pierre-Simon, 194, 195, 215, 242, 270
拉瑟,大卫,362
Lasser, David, 362
马克斯·冯·劳厄,277
Laue, Max von, 277
安托万·洛朗·拉瓦锡,195、200、210、213 – 17、249、270
Lavoisier, Antoine-Laurent, 195, 200, 210, 213–17, 249, 270
铅中毒,44
lead poisoning, 44
勒沙特列,亨利,274
Le Chatelier, Henri, 274
保罗·埃米尔·勒科克·德·布瓦博德朗,252
Lecoq de Boisbaudran, Paul Émile, 252
勒·柯布西耶,317
Le Corbusier, 317
列文虎克,安东尼·凡,165
Leeuwenhoek, Antoni van, 165
Legendre,Adrien Marie,242
Legendre, Adrien Marie, 242
Le Gentil,Guillaume,196
Le Gentil, Guillaume, 196
莱布尼茨,戈特弗里德·威廉,147、148、172、174、176、185
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, 147, 148, 172, 174, 176, 185
Lemaître, Georges F., 358, 375
莱纳德,菲利普,288
Lenard, Philipp, 288
列宁,弗拉基米尔,364
Lenin, Vladimir, 364
Le Rossignol,罗伯特,308
Le Rossignol, Robert, 308
莱万,阿尔伯特,304
Levan, Albert, 304
李卓豪418
Li, Choh Hao, 418
光
light
辩论, 294
debate over, 294
电磁学和265
electromagnetism and, 265
ether theory and, 294–6, 296, 297
菲涅尔,194
Fresnel, 194
另请参阅光学
See also optics
卡罗勒斯·林奈,202、208、208 – 9、223、224
Linnaeus, Carolus, 202, 208, 208–9, 223, 224
利普斯,杰克,393
Lippes, Jack, 393
识字率,45、49、78-9、138、306。另请参阅教育;印刷机
literacy, 45, 49, 78–9, 138, 306. See also education; printing press
洛克,约翰,183
Locke, John, 183
洛奇,奥利弗,359
Lodge, Oliver, 359
洛伦兹,亨德里克,296
Lorentz, Hendrik, 296
洛伦兹-菲茨杰拉德收缩理论,296
Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction theory, 296
约瑟夫·洛施密特(Loschmidt, Joseph)273
Loschmidt, Joseph, 273
Lovelace, Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of, 386–7
Lucretius (Titus Lucretius Carus), 33, 157
月光协会,206
Lunar Society, 206
Lunik 空间系列,372
Lunik space series, 372
查尔斯·莱尔,225 , 227 - 8 , 231 , 234
Lyell, Charles, 225, 227–8, 231, 234
Lysenko, Trofin Denisovich, 324–5, 432
马赫,恩斯特,274
Mach, Ernst, 274
麦克劳德,科林,342
MacLeod, Colin, 342
Macquer, Pierre Joseph, 210, 215
桑加玛格拉玛的玛达瓦,67岁
Madhava of Sangamagrama, 67
麦迪逊,詹姆斯,188
Madison, James, 188
磁性
magnetism
electricity and, 262–3, 264, 265
geomagnetic reversals on ocean floors, 354, 355
汤姆森和,239
Thomson and, 239
迈蒙尼德,摩西,84 岁
Maimonides, Moses, 84
马金,贝特苏亚,174
Makin, Bethsua, 174
Ma'mun, al- (阿拔斯王朝哈里发),50、60、62 – 3
Ma’mun, al- (Abbasid caliph), 50, 60, 62–3
曼彻斯特文学与哲学学会,207
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, 207
曼海姆,维克多·阿梅迪,385
Mannheim, Victor Amédée, 385
曼苏尔 (阿拔斯王朝哈里发),50 岁
Mansur, al- (Abbasid caliph), 50
地图。参见制图学
maps. See cartography
马克·安东尼(Marc Antony)33 岁
Marc Antony, 33
马里奥特,埃德梅,162
Mariotte, Edmé, 162
市场(贸易),119,150-1,193
marketplace (trade), 119, 150–1, 193
火星,394
Mars, 394
马蒂乌斯,卡尔·亚历山大,258
Martius, Carl Alexander, 258
迈克尔·梅斯特林113
Mästlin, Michael, 113
mathematical practitioners, 148, 150–1
数学
mathematics
此外,22
addition, 22
算法,385
algorithms, 385
解析几何,147
analytic geometry, 147
阿兹特克人,65
Aztecs, 65
微积分,147
calculus, 147
在早期文明中,3
in early civilizations, 3
Greeks (Pythagoreans) on, 8, 9–11, 11
不可通约性,10
incommensurability and, 10
印度,67
India, 67
无理数,10n1
irrational numbers, 10n1
伊斯兰奖学金,54
Islamic scholarship, 54
乘法,22
multiplication, 22
非欧几里得几何,55
non-Euclidian geometry, 55
奥雷斯姆,99
Oresme on, 99
位置符号, 67
positional notation, 67
Pythagorean theorem, 9–10, 10, 66
事情
matter
大爆炸理论,397
Big Bang theory on, 397
能量理论,274,280,294
Energetik theory, 274, 280, 294
另请参阅炼金术、原子、化学、物理学
See also alchemy; atoms; chemistry; physics
莫奇利,约翰,387
Mauchly, John, 387
Maupertius, Pierre de, 193, 194
麦克斯韦,詹姆斯·克拉克,265 – 6 , 268 , 274 , 276 , 294
Maxwell, James Clerk, 265–6, 268, 274, 276, 294
玛雅文明,61-4、64、115
Maya civilization, 61–4, 64, 115
麦卡锡,麦克林,342
McCarty, Maclyn, 342
麦克朗,克拉伦斯,322
McClung, Clarence, 322
麦康奈尔,约翰,400
McConnell, John, 400
McCormick, Katherine Dexter, 392–3
麦克莱伦,威廉,420
McLellan, William, 420
麦克卢汉,马歇尔,108
McLuhan, Marshall, 108
米德,玛格丽特,189
Mead, Margaret, 189
measurement, 2, 192–3, 218. See also scientific instruments
mechanical philosophy, 156–8, 175
美第奇家族,科西莫二世,129
Medici, Cosimo II de’, 129
药品
medicine
个性化(精准)医疗,416
personalized (precision) medicine, 416
另见解剖学
See also anatomy
中世纪时期
medieval period
阿奎那,71、89、90-1、92、101、135
Aquinas, 71, 89, 90–1, 92, 101, 135
亚里士多德和,85 - 7,94 - 5,103 - 4
Aristotle and, 85–7, 94–5, 103–4
Black Death (bubonic plague), 98–100, 431
Byzantine Empire, fall of, 80–1
结束,100
end of, 100
格伯特(教皇西尔维斯特二世),80
Gerbert (Pope Sylvester II), 80
国际联系,71,76-7,81-2
international contacts, 71, 76–7, 81–2
名义主义,98
nominalism, 98
经院哲学,71,79,91-2,101
scholasticism, 71, 79, 91–2, 101
Theodoric of Freiberg, 95–6, 96
translation of Arabic and Greek texts, 83–4, 93
大学,76,83,84-5
知识的效用,76
utility of knowledge and, 76
William of Ockham (Ockham’s Razor), 97–8
莉丝·迈特纳,314、330、330 – 1、337
Meitner, Lise, 314, 330, 330–1, 337
孟德尔,约翰·格雷戈尔,301,301,302,323
Mendel, Johann Gregor, 301, 301, 302, 323
Mendeleev, Dmitri Ivanovitch, 250–2, 252
保罗·门德尔松·巴托尔迪,258
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Paul, 258
孟席斯,阿奇博尔德,205
Menzies, Archibald, 205
Merian, Maria Sybilla, 175, 197
梅森,马林,171
Mersenne, Marin, 171
梅萨,贝尔纳多·德,117
Mesa, Bernardo de, 117
梅塞尔森,马修,403
Meselson, Matthew, 403
messenger RNA (mRNA), 403, 404
冶金实验室(芝加哥大学),333
Metallurgical Laboratory (U of Chicago), 333
Meteorologica (Aristotle), 57, 83
公制,218
metric system, 218
墨西哥,356
Mexico, 356
Meyer, Julius Lothar, 249–50, 252
微处理器,391
microprocessors, 391
显微镜,165
microscopes, 165
微波炉,383
microwave ovens, 383
中世纪。参见中世纪
Middle Ages. See medieval period
米歇尔,弗里德里希,342
Miescher, Friedrich, 342
密立根,罗伯特·安德鲁,279
Millikan, Robert Andrew, 279
模仿,238
mimicry, 238
Miriam (Maria the Jewess), 57–8
摩尔,269
mole, 269
蒙日,加斯帕德,242
Monge, Gaspard, 242
蒙田,米歇尔·德,118
Montaigne, Michel de, 118
摩尔定律,391
Moore, Gordon E. (Moore’s Law), 391
Moore v. The Regents of the University of California (1990), 407–8
摩根,托马斯·亨特,304,322,323
Morgan, Thomas Hunt, 304, 322, 323
Morley, Edward Williams, 295–6, 296
莫罗,安东·拉扎罗,200
Moro, Anton Lazzaro, 200
莫尔斯,塞缪尔,268
Morse, Samuel, 268
莫泽,佩特拉,337
Moser, Petra, 337
蛾,中部地区,238
moth, Midlands, 238
运动,19 – 21,20,126,127,128
motion, 19–21, 20, 126, 127, 128
穆顿,加布里埃尔,218
Mouton, Gabriel, 218
Muller, Hermann Joseph, 323–4, 341
乘法(数学),22
multiplication (mathematics), 22
介子,395
muons, 395
默里,马修,222
Murray, Matthew, 222
Museum (Alexandria), 23, 25, 33, 43
彼得·范·穆森布鲁克,191
Musschenbroek, Pieter van, 191
卡尔·威廉·冯·纳格利,302
Nägeli, Karl Wilhelm von, 302
纳皮尔,约翰,385
Napier, John, 385
NASA (美国国家航空航天局),368 – 9,371 – 2,377,397
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), 368–9, 371–2, 377, 397
美国国家科学院(四十),186
National Academy of Sciences (The Forty), 186
国防教育法,370
National Defence Education Act, 370
National Institutes of Health (NIH), 405, 418
国家利益和国家安全,307,313-14,324-5,338-9,341,346,360-1
national interest and national security, 307, 313–14, 324–5, 338–9, 341, 346, 360–1
自然法党,411
Natural Law Party, 411
自然哲学
natural philosophy
教育和78
education and, 78
humanist rediscovery of, 104–6
Islamic scholarship, 48–50, 70–2
赞助和18
patronage and, 18
Protestant Reformation and, 134, 137–8
scientific revolution and, 143–4, 178
另请参阅亚里士多德;希腊人;伊斯兰学术;中世纪;科学
See also Aristotle; Greeks; Islamic scholarship; medieval period; science
自然科学荣誉学位,266
Natural Sciences Tripos, 266
自然神学,238
natural theology, 238
纳粹党,328、329 – 30、331、336 – 7
Nazi Party, 328, 329–30, 331, 336–7
约瑟夫·尼德汉姆
Needham, Joseph
《中国科学技术史》(与王合著),68
Science and Civilization in China (with Wang), 68
尤瓦尔·尼曼396
Ne’eman, Yuval, 396
纳尔逊,盖洛德,400
Nelson, Gaylord, 400
新拉马克主义,230
neo-Lamarckianism, 230
新柏拉图主义,57,130,174
Nesmeianov,AN,365
Nesmeianov, A.N., 365
聂斯脱里派,50
Nestorians, 50
内维尔-罗尔夫,西比尔。参见戈托,西比尔
Neville-Rolfe, Sybil. See Gotto, Sybil
纽卡斯尔,玛格丽特,174
Newcastle, Margaret, 174
纽兰兹,亚历山大·雷纳,250
Newlands, Alexander Reina, 250
纽曼,汤姆,420
Newman, Tom, 420
艾萨克·牛顿
Newton, Isaac
炼金术,156
on alchemy, 156
关于天文学,113,152,153-4,154
on astronomy, 113, 152, 153–4, 154
微积分和147
calculus and, 147
在地球上,193
on Earth, 193
电力和262
electricity and, 262
牛顿时代结束,293
end of Newtonian age, 293
实验和,146,166,167-8
experimentation and, 146, 166, 167–8
武力,153
on force, 153
France, dissemination in, 187, 193
葬礼,181
funeral, 181
伽利略和,127
Galileo and, 127
热量和270
heat and, 270
开普勒和133
Kepler and, 133
光学,166,167-8,189
原理, 152 – 5 , 158 , 187 , 189 , 227
Principia, 152–5, 158, 187, 189, 227
相对论和299
relativity and, 299
research directions suggested by, 168, 194
普遍规律,182
universal laws and, 182
新世界。参见美洲
New World. See Americas
新西兰,431
New Zealand, 431
尼古拉·德·尼古拉,117
Nicolay, Nicolas de, 117
尼埃普斯,尼塞福尔,277
Niépce, Nicéphore, 277
尼尔森,左撇子,252
Nilson, L.F., 252
尼普科夫,保罗,374
Nipkow, Paul, 374
诺贝尔,阿尔弗雷德·伯恩哈德(诺贝尔奖),277 – 8 , 278n3 , 349
Nobel, Alfred Bernhard (Nobel Prizes), 277–8, 278n3, 349
诺加罗拉,伊索塔,104
Nogarola, Isotta, 104
名义主义,98
nominalism, 98
诺伊斯,罗伯特,391
Noyce, Robert, 391
核物理学,318。另见不确定性;辐射和放射性
nuclear physics, 318. See also indeterminacy; radiation and radioactivity
核武器
nuclear weapons
与太空竞赛相比,361
comparison to space race, 361
fusion (hydrogen bomb), 339–40, 340
科学家的反对,332、337、340-1
opposition from scientists, 332, 337, 340–1
核酸,342
nucleic acid, 342
核理论,253
nucleus theory, 253
奥伯特,赫尔曼,363
Oberth, Hermann, 363
观察,行为,321
observation, act of, 321
奥斯特,汉斯·克里斯蒂安,262
Oersted, Hans Christian, 262
Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), 333, 366
欧姆,乔治·西蒙,263
Ohm, Georg Simon, 263
OIMS(全联盟行星际通信研究学会),365
OIMS (All-Union Society for the Study of Interplanetary Communications), 365
亨利·奥尔登堡,171
Oldenburg, Henry, 171
奥利维耶里,南希,426
Olivieri, Nancy, 426
oncomouse (Harvard Mouse), 407, 407n2
奥帕乌和洛纳氨厂,308
Oppau and Leuna Ammonia Works, 308
Oppenheimer, Robert, 334, 336, 340–1
光学,52、53-4、86-7、89、89、95、166 。另请参阅光
optics, 52, 53–4, 86–7, 89, 89, 95, 166. See also light
奥雷斯姆,尼古拉斯,99岁
Oresme, Nicolas, 99
organic compounds, 252–5, 254n3
奥特柳斯,亚伯拉罕,117
Ortelius, Abraham, 117
安德烈亚斯·奥西安德112
Osiander, Andreas, 112
奥斯特瓦尔德,威廉,274
Ostwald, Wilhelm, 274
奥特雷德,威廉,385
Oughtred, William, 385
牛津大学,83
Oxford University, 83
画家,Theophilus,304
Painter, Theophilus, 304
佩利,威廉,238
Paley, William, 238
泛生论,300
pan-genesis theory, 300
纸,106
paper, 106
视差,110
parallax, 110
公园,芒戈,205
Parks, Mungo, 205
帕斯卡·布莱斯,148 – 9 , 164 – 5 , 385
Pascal, Blaise, 148–9, 164–5, 385
路易斯·巴斯德, 189 , 245 – 6 , 407n1
Pasteur, Louis, 189, 245–6, 407n1
赞助,18,122 – 6,128 – 9,133 – 4,424
patronage, 18, 122–6, 128–9, 133–4, 424
巴顿,乔治·S.,339
Patton, George S., 339
鲍林,莱纳斯,189,341,343,344
Pauling, Linus, 189, 341, 343, 344
保尔兹,玛丽·安妮·皮埃尔特,214
Paulze, Marie Anne Pierrette, 214
帕克斯顿·约瑟夫,244
Paxton, Joseph, 244
皮尔,罗伯特,256
Peel, Robert, 256
鲁道夫·佩尔斯 (Rudolf Peierls) 337
Peierls, Rudolf, 337
彭罗斯,罗杰,397
Penrose, Roger, 397
彭齐亚斯,阿诺,375
Penzias, Arno, 375
个性化(精准)医疗,416
personalized (precision) medicine, 416
彼得森,蔡斯,423
Peterson, Chase, 423
彼特拉克,104
Petrarch, 104
噬菌体学校,342
Phage School, 342
博士学位(哲学博士)学位,92,306,382
PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) degree, 92, 306, 382
约翰·菲洛波努斯,46 岁
Philoponus, John, 46
《魔法石》,57,93,121,156
Philosopher’s Stone, 57, 93, 121, 156
哲学工具。参见科学工具
philosophical instruments. See scientific instruments
英国皇家学会哲学学报,171
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 171
哲学。参见自然哲学
philosophy. See natural philosophy
燃素理论,211,212,213,214-15,216,270
phlogiston theory, 211, 212, 213, 214–15, 216, 270
光气,312
phosgene, 312
photoelectric effect, 288, 299
摄影,277
photography, 277
颅相学,432
phrenology, 432
物理
physics
caloric theory, 215, 215, 270–1
阴极射线和阴极射线管,xiv,275,276,279,284,374
cathode rays and cathode ray tube, xiv, 275, 276, 279, 284, 374
与化学相比,274、318、346
能量理论,274,280,294
Energetik theory, 274, 280, 294
grand unified theories (GUTs), 195, 397
燃素理论,211,212,213,214-15,216,270
phlogiston theory, 211, 212, 213, 214–15, 216, 270
第一次世界大战后,313
post-WWI, 313
量子物理学,286,287-8,319,322,423
quantum physics, 286, 287–8, 319, 322, 423
辐射和放射性,276 – 7,280 – 2,285,286 – 7,289,330 – 1
radiation and radioactivity, 276–7, 280–2, 285, 286–7, 289, 330–1
波与粒子之争,266,270,276,280,319
waves vs. particles debate, 266, 270, 276, 280, 319
X射线,276-7,277,279
另请参阅原子;光;物质;热力学
See also atoms; light; matter; thermodynamics
平卡斯,格雷戈里,392
Pincus, Gregory, 392
Pioneer space program, 372, 394
介子,395
pions, 395
沥青铀矿,281
pitchblende, 281
普朗克,马克斯,286,287-8,314,336
Planck, Max, 286, 287–8, 314, 336
柏拉图
Plato
背景,14
background, 14
关于宇宙学,19
on cosmology, 19
四个要素,17
on four elements, 17
保存和重新发现,43、45、75、84、104、105-6
preservation and rediscovery of, 43, 45, 75, 84, 104, 105–6
经院哲学和91
scholasticism and, 91
论知识的效用,xiv
on utility of knowledge, xiv
柏拉图学院(佛罗伦萨),106
Platonic Academy (Florence), 106
老普林尼
Pliny the Elder
自然历史,34
Natural History, 34
尤利乌斯·普吕克 (Julius Plücker),275
Plücker, Julius, 275
冥王星论,200
Plutonism, 200
钚,335
plutonium, 335
气动化学,210。另请参阅空气
pneumatic chemistry, 210. See also airs
政治。参见国家利益和国家安全
politics. See national interest and national security
聚合物,284
polymers, 284
庞斯·斯坦利,94n3,423-4
教皇,亚历山大,178
Pope, Alexander, 178
人口增长,401
population growth, 401
人口研究,323
population studies, 323
斑岩,44
Porphyry, 44
波希多尼,34
Posidonius, 34
位置符号, 67
positional notation, 67
正电子,395
positrons, 395
尼尔·波斯特曼433
Postman, Neil, 433
Pouchet,Felix,245
Pouchet, Felix, 245
鲍威尔,塞西尔,341
Powell, Cecil, 341
精准医疗(个性化医疗),416
precision (personalized) medicine, 416
普里斯特利,约瑟夫,190、212-13、214、215
Priestley, Joseph, 190, 212–13, 214, 215
《自然哲学的数学原理》(牛顿),152-5,158,187,189,227
Principia (Newton), 152–5, 158, 187, 189, 227
印刷机,100,106-9,107,134
printing press, 100, 106–9, 107, 134
专业化,172,240-2,243-5,262
professionalization, 172, 240–2, 243–5, 262
Protestant Reformation, 134, 137–8. See also Christianity
普鲁士科学院,185
Prussian Academy of Sciences, 185
托勒密(克劳狄斯·托勒密)
Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus)
Almagest(数学句法),34,37,40,50,54,84,109
Almagest (Mathematical Syntaxis), 34, 37, 40, 50, 54, 84, 109
背景,34
background, 34
中国天文学和70
Chinese astronomy and, 70
地理学, 37 , 39 , 40 , 62 – 3 , 116
Geographia, 37, 39, 40, 62–3, 116
方便的表,40
Handy Tables, 40
光学,83
Optics, 83
Pythagorean theorem, 9–10, 10, 66
贵格会教徒,187
Quakers, 187
量子物理学,286、287-8、319、322、423 。另请参阅不确定性
quantum physics, 286, 287–8, 319, 322, 423. See also indeterminacy
夸克,396
quarks, 396
种族主义,117-18,206,223-4,224
racism, 117–18, 206, 223–4, 224
辐射和放射性,276 – 7,280 – 2,285,286 – 7,289,330 – 1
radiation and radioactivity, 276–7, 280–2, 285, 286–7, 289, 330–1
辐射实验室(加州大学和麻省理工学院),333
Radiation Laboratories (UC and MIT), 333
广播,373
radio, 373
铁路,222
railways, 222
兰金,威廉·麦克夸恩,270
Rankine, William Macquorn, 270
雷利,约翰·威廉·斯特拉特勋爵,266
Rayleigh, John William Strutt, Lord, 266
托莱多的雷蒙德,84岁
Raymond of Toledo, 84
拉齐,阿布·巴克尔·穆罕默德·伊本·扎卡里亚·阿尔(Rhazes),59、59 – 60、84、93
Razi, Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Zakariya al-(Rhazes), 59, 59–60, 84, 93
雷伯,格罗特,359
Reber, Grote, 359
重组DNA ,403,406,417-18
recombinant DNA, 403, 406, 417–18
Recorde,Robert,150
Recorde, Robert, 150
雷吉奥蒙塔努斯,约翰内斯,109
Regiomontanus, Johannes, 109
宗教,4、6、240-1、414-15。另请参阅佛教;基督教;道教
religion, 4, 6, 240–1, 414–15. See also Buddhism; Christianity; Taoism
复兴
Renaissance
伽利略,125 – 6 , 126 – 9 , 134 – 7
商业文化与经济,119
mercantile culture and economy, 119
自然哲学,121-2,122,141
natural philosophy and, 121–2, 122, 141
赞助,122 – 6 , 128 – 9 , 133 – 4
patronage, 122–6, 128–9, 133–4
printing press, 106–9, 107, 134
Protestant Reformation and, 134, 137–8
伦内尔,詹姆斯,197
Rennell, James, 197
可复制性,163
replicability, 163
繁殖。参见有性生殖
reproduction. See sexual reproduction
Republic, The (Plato), 14–15, 327
国家安全研究委员会,366
Research Board for National Security, 366
拉兹 (al-Razi), 59 , 59 – 60 , 84 , 93
Rhazes (al-Razi), 59, 59–60, 84, 93
雷提库斯,Georg Joachim,112
Rheticus, Georg Joachim, 112
里夫金,杰里米,419
Rifkin, Jeremy, 419
洛克,约翰,393
Rock, John, 393
火箭技术,361 – 2,362 – 6,367。另请参阅太空竞赛
rocketry, 361–2, 362–6, 367. See also space race
罗巴克,约翰,207
Roebuck, John, 207
罗默,Ole,294
Roemer, Ole, 294
罗勒,海因里希,421
Rohrer, Heinrich, 421
罗马天主教会,134、135-7、138、241 。另请参阅基督教
Roman Catholic Church, 134, 135–7, 138, 241. See also Christianity
罗马帝国,31 – 3 年,32 年,33 – 4 年,43 – 4 年,45 年。另请参阅拜占庭帝国;盖伦;托勒密
Roman Empire, 31–3, 32, 33–4, 43–4, 45. See also Byzantine Empire; Galen; Ptolemy
Röntgen, Wilhelm Konrad, 276–7
罗斯福,富兰克林· D ·罗斯福,332 - 3,337,366,374
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 332–3, 337, 366, 374
罗斯科,亨利,249
Roscoe, Henry, 249
Rotblat,Joseph,341
Rotblat, Joseph, 341
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 118, 206
英国皇家化学学院,256
Royal College of Chemistry, 256
丹麦皇家科学与文学学院,185
Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 185
皇家矿业学院,245
Royal School of Mines, 245
伦敦皇家学会
Royal Society of London
博伊尔和,160
Boyle and, 160
衰落,243
decline of, 243
实验和177
experimentations and, 177
History of the Trades, 172, 173
霍布斯和,183
Hobbes and, 183
影响, 169
impact of, 169
列文虎克和165
Leeuwenhoek and, 165
牛顿和,152,155,156
科普和185
popularization of science and, 185
妇女和176
women and, 176
瑞典皇家科学院,200
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 200
鲁道夫二世 (神圣罗马帝国皇帝), 124 , 129 , 131 , 133
Rudolph II (holy roman emperor), 124, 129, 131, 133
朗福德,本杰明·汤普森,伯爵,271
Rumford, Benjamin Thompson, Count, 271
罗素,伯特兰,341
Russell, Bertrand, 341
俄罗斯,185,305,308,317,361-2,430 。另请参阅苏联
Russia, 185, 305, 308, 317, 361–2, 430. See also Soviet Union
俄罗斯科学院,185
Russian Academy of Science, 185
Rutherford, Ernest, 285–6, 288–9, 337
赖尔,马丁,359
Ryle, Martin, 359
萨根,卡尔,398
Sagan, Carl, 398
圣普里斯特,亚历克西斯·吉尼亚德,437
Saint-Priest, Alexis Guignard de, 437
桑格,弗雷德,403
Sanger, Fred, 403
桑格,玛格丽特,392
Sanger, Margaret, 392
satellites, communication, 373, 374–5
土星,394
Saturn, 394
土星火箭系列,376
Saturn rocket series, 376
萨克斯顿,克里斯托弗,117
Saxton, Christopher, 117
塞尔,安妮
Sayre, Anne
罗莎琳德·富兰克林和 DNA,343
Rosalind Franklin and DNA, 343
scanning tunneling microscope (STM), 421–2
威廉·希卡德,385
Schickard, Wilhelm, 385
施莱登,马蒂亚斯·雅各布,304
Schleiden, Matthias Jakob, 304
经院哲学,71,79,91-2,101
scholasticism, 71, 79, 91–2, 101
薛定谔,埃尔文,314,319-20,320-1,322
Schrödinger, Erwin, 314, 319–20, 320–1, 322
科学
science
应用科学,384
applied science, 384
强烈反对,412,415-16,427
backlash against, 412, 415–16, 427
当代问题,411 – 13,413 – 16,424,425 – 7,433 – 5
contemporary issues, 411–13, 413–16, 424, 425–7, 433–5
expeditions for, 195–6, 202–6, 222–3
future histories, considerations for, 437–8
Indigenous worldviews and, 414–15
国际联系和, 66 , 70 , 71 , 76 – 7 , 81 – 2 , 246
international contacts and, 66, 70, 71, 76–7, 81–2, 246
国家利益和国家安全,307,313-14,324-5,338-9,341,346,360-1
national interest and national security, 307, 313–14, 324–5, 338–9, 341, 346, 360–1
作为职业,379
as occupation, 379
普及,185,187,349-50
popularization of, 185, 187, 349–50
专业化,172,240-2,243-5,262
professionalization of, 172, 240–2, 243–5, 262
revolutionary spirit and, 188–9
tension between application and intellectual pursuit, xii–xiii
术语的使用,413
use of term, 413
效用,xiv,76,172,313,409,413
utility of, xiv, 76, 172, 313, 409, 413
女性,173 – 4 , 175 – 6 , 214 , 380 , 382 – 3
women in, 173–4, 175–6, 214, 380, 382–3
另请参阅炼金术、天文学、化学、电学、启蒙运动、进化、遗传学、地质学、希腊人、伊斯兰学术、数学、中世纪、自然哲学、物理学、文艺复兴、科学革命、太空竞赛、战争
See also alchemy; astronomy; chemistry; electricity; Enlightenment; evolution; genetics; geology; Greeks; Islamic scholarship; mathematics; medieval period; natural philosophy; physics; Renaissance; scientific revolution; space race; war
科学仪器
scientific instruments
阴极射线和阴极射线管,275,276,279,284,374
cathode rays and cathode ray tube, 275, 276, 279, 284, 374
显微镜,165
microscopes, 165
scanning tunneling microscope (STM), 421–2
超速离心机, 283
ultracentrifuge, 283
X射线光谱,277
X-ray spectroscopy, 277
另请参阅计算设备
See also computing devices
科学革命
scientific revolution
实验,158 – 64,166,167 – 8
experimentation, 158–64, 166, 167–8
数学从业者,148
mathematical practitioners, 148
mathematics and natural philosophy, 146–7
mechanical philosophy, 156–8, 175
牛顿,149-55,156,166-8
科学社团
scientific societies
早期社会,169
early societies, 169
international unions, 380, 381
professionalization and specialization, 243–4, 307
另请参阅法国科学院;英国科学促进会;伦敦皇家学会
See also Académie des Sciences; British Association for the Advancement of Science; Royal Society of London
Scrope,George Poulett,227
Scrope, George Poulett, 227
西博格,格伦,335
Seaborg, Glenn, 335
第二次世界大战。参见核武器;第二次世界大战
Second World War. See nuclear weapons; World War II
secrecy, in research, 93–4, 425
有性生殖
sexual reproduction
亚里士多德,16岁
Aristotle, 16
另请参阅遗传学
See also genetics
阿拉·丁·伊本·沙蒂尔,61 岁
Shatir, Ala al-Din ibn al-, 61
谢泼德,艾伦,376
Shepard, Alan, 376
新藤昭夫420
Shindo, Akio, 420
设拉子,库特布·阿尔丁,61 岁
Shirazi, Qutb al-Din al-, 61
肖克利,威廉,390
Shockley, William, 390
肖维尔,克劳德斯利,193
Shovell, Cloudesley, 193
内维尔·舒特
Shute, Nevil
海滩上, 349
On the Beach, 349
Siedentopf,亨利,283
Siedentopf, Henry, 283
卡尔·曼尼·格奥尔格·西格巴恩,277
Siegbahn, Karl Manne Georg, 277
辛斯海默,罗伯特,405
Sinsheimer, Robert, 405
天空实验室,394
Skylab, 394
计算尺,385
slide rules, 385
斯莫尔,威廉,206
Small, William, 206
斯莫利,理查德,421
Smalley, Richard, 421
史密斯,亚当,183
Smith, Adam, 183
史密斯,汉密尔顿,403
Smith, Hamilton, 403
史密斯,威廉,226
Smith, William, 226
Snell,Willebrord,166
Snell, Willebrord, 166
阿尔克伊公司,242
Société d’Arcueil, 242
学会。参见科学学会
societies. See scientific societies
solid state transistor, 389–91, 390
索邦大学,84
Sorbonne University, 84
苏联
Soviet Union
太空计划,349,351,368-9,372,375-6
space program, 349, 351, 368–9, 372, 375–6
technological competition with US, 370–1
科学界女性,383
women in science, 383
另见俄罗斯
See also Russia
太空竞赛
space race
阿波罗计划,368,372-3,374,376,394
Apollo program, 368, 372–3, 374, 376, 394
communication satellites, 373, 374–5
与核武器相比,361
comparison to nuclear weapons, 361
competition between Soviet Union and US, 372, 375–6
early rocketry, 361–2, 362–6, 367
Lunik 计划,372
Lunik program, 372
美国宇航局,368 – 9、371 – 2、377、397
行星探索,394
planets, exploration of, 394
土星计划,376
Saturn program, 376
天空实验室,394
Skylab, 394
苏联,349,351,368-9,372,375-6
Soviet Union, 349, 351, 368–9, 372, 375–6
斯普尼克,349,350,366,368-9
斯普尼克2,351
Sputnik 2, 351
美国,355,366-70,372-3,374-5,376,394
US, 355, 366–70, 372–3, 374–5, 376, 394
物种。参见进化
species. See evolution
斯宾塞,珀西,383
Spencer, Percy, 383
斯普拉特,托马斯,171
Sprat, Thomas, 171
斯普尼克,349,350,366,368-9
斯普尼克2,351
Sputnik 2, 351
格奥尔格·恩斯特·斯塔尔,211
Stahl, Georg Ernst, 211
斯大林,约瑟夫,365
Stalin, Joseph, 365
Steady State theory, 357–9, 375
蒸汽机, 198,207,267
轮船,222
steamships, 222
斯蒂芬森,卡里,408
Stefansson, Kari, 408
尼古拉斯·斯坦诺,199
Steno, Nicolaus, 199
安条克的圣斯蒂芬,83岁
Stephen of Antioch, 83
斯蒂文·西蒙,148
Stevin, Simon, 148
Stoney, George Johnstone, 270, 279
斯特拉博,39岁
Strabo, 39
Sturtevant,Alfred H.,323
Sturtevant, Alfred H., 323
苏斯,爱德华,353
Suess, Eduard, 353
苏伊士运河,351
Suez Canal, 351
苏松69岁
Su Song, 69
斯维德伯格,西奥多,283
Svedberg, Theodor, 283
斯瓦米纳坦,曼昆布·桑巴西兰,356
Swaminathan, Mankombu Sambasiran, 356
斯瓦默丹,Jan,165
Swammerdam, Jan, 165
西尔维斯特二世(教皇;格伯特),80
Sylvester II (pope; Gerbert), 80
西拉德,利奥,314,331-2,337
塔希提岛,196
Tahiti, 196
特勒,爱德华,340
Teller, Edward, 340
尼古拉·特斯拉,384
Tesla, Nikola, 384
米利都的泰勒斯,7
Thales of Miletus, 7
Theodoric of Freiberg, 95–6, 96
古利奈的狄奥多罗,14
Theodorus of Cyrene, 14
热力学
thermodynamics
热质理论和,215,215,270-1
caloric theory and, 215, 215, 270–1
electricity, nature of, and, 268–70
能量理论和274
Energetik theory and, 274
开尔文,239
Kelvin on, 239
kinetic theory of gases, 272–3
物理化学和274
physical chemistry and, 274
work and heat, relationship between, 271–2
托马斯·阿奎那,71、89、90-1、92、101、135
Thomas Aquinas, 71, 89, 90–1, 92, 101, 135
3D打印,422
3d printing, 422
Tigris-Euphrates civilizations, 2–3, 4
蒂迈欧篇(柏拉图),15,45,75,84
Timaeus (Plato), 15, 45, 75, 84
Titus Lucretius Carus, 33, 157
Tjio,Joe Hin,304
Tjio, Joe Hin, 304
托里切利,埃万杰利斯塔,164
Torricelli, Evangelista, 164
贸易(市场),119,150-1,193
trade (marketplace), 119, 150–1, 193
超验冥想,411
Transcendental Meditation, 411
transistor, solid state, 389–91, 390
Trevelyan,总经理,337
Trevelyan, G.M., 337
理查德·特雷维斯尼克 (Richard Trevithnick) 222
Trevithnick, Richard, 222
Tschermak,E.von,303
Tschermak, E. von, 303
Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin, 361–2, 362, 421
塔奇曼,芭芭拉,99岁
Tuchman, Barbara, 99
图波列夫,谢尔盖,365
Tupolev, Sergei, 365
特纳,马修,212
Turner, Matthew, 212
托斯卡纳科学与文学学院,186
Tuscan Academy of Sciences and Letters, 186
图西,纳西尔·丁·阿勒,61 岁
Tusi, Nasir al-Din al-, 61
第谷·布拉赫,111、112、112 – 13、130 – 1
Tycho Brahe, 111, 112, 112–13, 130–1
乌拉姆,Stanislaw M.,340
Ulam, Stanislaw M., 340
超速离心机, 283
ultracentrifuge, 283
不确定性原理,320。另请参阅不确定性
uncertainty principle, 320. See also indeterminacy
联合国教科文组织
UNESCO
《世界人类基因组与人权宣言》,406
Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights, 406
均变论,201,227-8,231
uniformitarianism, 201, 227–8, 231
一神论派,187
Unitarians, 187
英国。参见英国
United Kingdom. See Britain
联合国,380,401,429,430
United Nations, 380, 401, 429, 430
美国
United States of America
高级研究计划局(ARPA),371
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), 371
美国梦与科学,377
American dream and science, 377
新冠肺炎疫情,431
COVID-19 pandemic, 431
古巴导弹危机,376
Cuban Missile Crisis, 376
《独立宣言》,189
Declaration of Independence, 189
environmental movement, 399–402
Manhattan Project and atomic bombing of Japan, 333–8
国防教育法,370
National Defence Education Act, 370
核武器,战后,339,340,350,351
nuclear weapons, postwar, 339, 340, 350, 351
Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), 333, 366
国家安全研究委员会,366
Research Board for National Security, 366
火箭,364
rocketry, 364
作为科学力量,314
as scientific power, 314
科学协会,186
scientific societies, 186
太空计划,355,366 – 70,372 – 3,374 – 5,376,394
space program, 355, 366–70, 372–3, 374–5, 376, 394
technological competition with Soviet Union, 370–1
universities, 76, 83, 84–5, 92. See also education
博洛尼亚大学,83
University of Bologna, 83
那不勒斯大学,84
University of Naples, 84
University of Paris, 79, 83, 85
罗马大学,84
University of Rome, 84
图卢兹大学,84
University of Toulouse, 84
铀,280-1,285,331,332,334-5,339
uranium, 280–1, 285, 331, 332, 334–5, 339
天王星,394
Uranus, 394
科学的效用,xiv,76,172,313,409,413
utility, of science, xiv, 76, 172, 313, 409, 413
疫苗接种、反疫苗运动、426
vaccinations, anti-vaccine movement, 426
Van Allen radiation belts, 370, 370
瓦拉哈米希拉,67岁
Varahamihira, 67
Vavilov, Nikolai Ivanovitch, 324, 325
吠陀传统,67。另见印度
Vedic tradition, 67. See also India
Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VFR), 362
Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VFR), 362
安德烈亚斯·维萨里, 139 , 139 – 41 , 140 , 159
Vesalius, Andreas, 139, 139–41, 140, 159
Vine,Allyn C.,421
Vine, Allyn C., 421
鲁道夫·魏尔绍304
Virchow, Rudolf, 304
亚历山德罗·沃尔塔,262
Volta, Alessandro, 262
伏尔泰(弗朗索瓦-马里·阿鲁埃),156、181、187
Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet), 156, 181, 187
冯·布劳恩、沃纳, 363 , 364 , 367 , 371 , 372
von Braun, Wernher, 363, 364, 367, 371, 372
von Neumann, John, 333, 388, 389
投票权,317
voting rights, 317
Vries, Hugo de, 303
Vries, Hugo de, 303
韦克菲尔德,安德鲁,426
Wakefield, Andrew, 426
海因里希·威廉·冯·瓦尔德耶-哈茨,304
Waldeyer-Hartz, Heinrich Wilhelm von, 304
华莱士,阿尔弗雷德·罗素,233 – 5 , 237 , 238
Wallace, Alfred Russel, 233–5, 237, 238
华莱士线,235
Wallace Line, 235
王玲
Wang Ling
《中国科学技术史》(与李约瑟合著),68
Science and Civilization in China (with Needham), 68
战争
war
工业规模,290
on industrial scale, 290
Manhattan Project and atomic bombing Japan, 333–8
国家利益和国家安全,307,313-14,324-5,338-9,341,346,360-1
national interest and national security, 307, 313–14, 324–5, 338–9, 341, 346, 360–1
科学家的参与,312
scientists’ involvement, 312
武器,理由,311
weapons, justification for, 311
另见核武器
See also nuclear weapons
沃森·詹姆斯,343 – 5 , 345 , 346 , 405
Watson, James, 343–5, 345, 346, 405
波浪
waves
波与粒子之争,266,270,276,280,319
waves vs. particles debate, 266, 270, 276, 280, 319
韦伯,威廉,268
Weber, Wilhelm, 268
魏格纳,阿尔弗雷德·洛萨,353
Wegener, Alfred Lothar, 353
Werner, Abraham Gottlob, 199–200
Weskott,J.,258
Weskott, J., 258
查尔斯·惠斯通(Charles Wheatstone )267-8
Whewell, William, 238, 241, 242
怀特,安德鲁·迪克森,241
White, Andrew Dickson, 241
维也纳,威廉,287
Wien, Wilhelm, 287
威伯福斯,塞缪尔,237
Wilberforce, Samuel, 237
威尔科克斯,肯特,403
Wilcox, Kent, 403
威尔金斯,莫里斯,343,344,345
Wilkins, Maurice, 343, 344, 345
弗朗西斯·威洛比
Willoughby, Francis
鱼类史, 155
History of Fishes, 155
威尔逊,查尔斯,395
Wilson, Charles, 395
威尔逊,埃德蒙·比彻,304
Wilson, Edmund Beecher, 304
威尔逊,罗伯特,375
Wilson, Robert, 375
维勒,弗里德里希,253
Wöhler, Friedrich, 253
女性
women
Greek and Roman medicine and, 41–2
人文主义和104
humanism and, 104
伦敦皇家学会和,171
Royal Society of London and, 171
在科学方面,173-4、175-6、214、380、382-3
in science, 173–4, 175–6, 214, 380, 382–3
投票权,317
voting rights, 317
世界数据中心,352
World Data Centers, 352
第一次世界大战, 308-13,309
第二次世界大战,332,336-8,387。另见核武器
World War II, 332, 336–8, 387. See also nuclear weapons
雷恩,克里斯托弗,152
Wren, Christopher, 152
爱德华·赖特,148
Wright, Edward, 148
德比的约瑟夫·赖特
Wright, Joseph, of Derby
气泵中的鸟类实验,163
Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump, An, 163
赖特,塞沃尔,325
Wright, Sewall, 325
X射线,276-7,277,279
X射线光谱,277
X-ray spectroscopy, 277
杨,托马斯,266
Young, Thomas, 266
汤川秀树341
Yukawa, Hideki, 341
张恒69岁
Zhang Heng, 69
Zsigmondy,理查德,283
Zsigmondy, Richard, 283
乔治·茨威格,396
Zweig, George, 396
弗拉基米尔·兹沃里金374
Zworykin, Vladimir, 374
以下日期和事件按时间顺序列出,从上到下:约公元前 2560 年:建造大金字塔,约公元前 600 年:米利都的泰勒斯创办爱奥尼亚学校,约公元前 550 年:毕达哥拉斯教授数字和几何世界,约公元前 500 年:以弗所的赫拉克利特和埃利亚的巴门尼德提出了相互竞争的变化理论,约公元前 410 年:德谟克利特提出物质的“原子”理论,公元前 399 年:苏格拉底之死,公元前 385 年:柏拉图创立学园,公元前 334 年:亚里士多德创立吕克昂学园,约公元前 300 年:欧几里得撰写数学论文《几何原本》,约公元前 290 年:阿里斯塔克斯提出日心说——基本上被忽视了,约公元前 240昔兰尼测量地球周长,公元前 212 年:阿基米德之死
The following dates and events are listed in chronological order, from top to bottom: Circa 2560 BCE: Great Pyramid built, Circa 600 BCE: Thales of Miletus starts Ionian school, Circa 550 BCE: Pythagoras teaches world as numbers and geometry, Circa 500 BCE: Heraclitus of Ephesus and Parmenides of Elea propose competing theories of change, Circa 410 BCE: Democritus proposes “atomic” theory of matter, 399 BCE: Death of Socrates, 385 BCE: Plato founds the Academy, 334 BCE: Aristotle founds the Lyceum, Circa 300 BCE: Euclid writes mathematic treatise Elements, Circa 290 BCE: Aristarchus proposes heliocentric theory – largely ignored, Circa 240 BCE: Eratosthenes of Cyrene measures circumference of the Earth, 212 BCE: Death of Archimedes
以下日期和事件按时间顺序列出,从上到下:公元前 753 年:传统的罗马建城日期,公元前 146 年:希腊被罗马控制,约公元前 50 年:卢克莱修撰写《物性论》,公元前 31 年:埃及被罗马控制,约公元前 7 年:斯特拉博撰写《世界现状》,公元 79 年:老普林尼撰写《自然史》,约公元 148 年:托勒密撰写《天文学大成》和《地理学》,公元 162 年:盖伦迁往罗马,250 年至 950 年:玛雅帝国繁荣,286 年:罗马帝国分裂为东西方,392 年:罗马帝国的基督教化,476 年:罗马在西方帝国统治的结束,529 年:查士丁尼皇帝关闭吕塞姆学院和学院,622 年:穆罕默德前往雅斯里布(麦地那),622伊斯兰教开始,762 年:巴格达建立,约 815 年:智慧之家 (Bait al-hikmah) 建立,约 820 年:肯迪翻译《地理学》,约 890 年:拉齐撰写《秘密中的秘密》炼金术文本,约 900 年:巴尔希地理学派创立,约 1000 年:几乎所有现存的希腊医学和自然哲学文本均译成阿拉伯语,约 1037 年:伊本西那去世,1092 年:苏颂制作机械钟、地球仪和浑天仪,1426 年至 1520 年:阿兹特克帝国繁荣
The following dates and events are listed in chronological order, from top to bottom: 753 BCE: Traditional date for founding of Rome, 146 BCE: Greece comes under Roman control, Circa 50 BCE: Lucretius writes De rerum natura, 31 BCE: Egypt comes under Roman control, Circa 7 BCE: Strabo writes De situ orbis, 79 CE: Pliny the Elder writes Natural History, Circa 148: Ptolemy writes Almagest and Geographia, 162: Galen moves to Rome, 250 to 950: Mayan Empire flourishes, 286: Roman Empire divided into east and west, 392: Christianization of Roman Empire, 476: End of Roman rule in western empire, 529: Lyceum and Academy closed by Emperor Justinian, 622: Muhammad travels to Yathrib (Medina), 622: The Hegira marks beginning of Islam, 762: Baghdad established, Circa 815: Bait al-hikmah (House of Wisdom) created, Circa 820: al-Kindi translates Geographia, Circa 890: al-Razi writes Secret of Secrets alchemical text, Circa 900: Founding of Balkhi school of geographic thought, Circa 1000: Almost all surviving Greek medical and natural philosophical texts translated into Arabic, Circa 1037: Ibn Sina dies, 1092: Su Song mechanical clock, globe, and armillary sphere, 1426 to 1520: Aztec Empire flourishes
以下日期和事件按时间顺序列出,从上到下:641:埃及被哈里发欧麦尔控制,768 年至 814 年:查理曼帝国,999 年:格伯特成为教皇西尔维斯特三世,1085 年:阿方索六世国王攻占托莱多,1095 年:乌尔班二世宣布第一次十字军东征,1099 年:第一次十字军东征攻占耶路撒冷,1142 年:巴斯的阿德拉尔将欧几里得的《几何原本》从阿拉伯语翻译成拉丁语,1145 年:切斯特的罗伯特将花拉子米的《代数学》翻译成拉丁语,1147 年至 1149 年:第二次十字军东征,1158 年:博洛尼亚大学宪章,1167 年:牛津大学宪章,1168 年至 1263 年:罗伯特·格罗斯泰斯特,1170 年:巴黎大学宪章,1189 年至 1192 年:第三次十字军东征,约 1206 年至约 1280 年:阿尔伯特·马格努斯,1210 年:巴黎大学禁止教授亚里士多德,约 1214 年至约 1294 年:罗杰·培根,1225 年至 1274 年:托马斯·阿奎那,1255 年:巴黎大学强制教授亚里士多德,1285 年至约 1349 年:奥卡姆的威廉,1291 年:耶路撒冷被伊斯兰军队攻占,约 1304 年:弗赖贝格的狄奥多里克撰写《彩虹》,1337 年至 1453 年:百年战争,1347 年:黑死病,1453 年:君士坦丁堡被穆罕默德领导的伊斯兰军队攻陷
The following dates and events are listed in chronological order, from top to bottom: 641: Egypt comes under control of Caliph Umar, 768 to 814: Charlemagne’s empire, 999: Gerbert becomes Pope Sylvester III, 1085: King Alfonso VI captures Toledo, 1095: Urban II announces the First Crusade, 1099: First Crusade captures Jerusalem, 1142: Adelard of Bath translates Euclid’s Elements from Arabic to Latin, 1145: Robert of Chester translates al-Khwarizmi’s Algebra into Latin, 1147 to 1149: Second Crusade, 1158: Charter for University of Bologna, 1167: Charter for Oxford University, 1168 to 1263: Robert Grosseteste, 1170: Charter for University of Paris, 1189 to 1192: Third Crusade, Circa 1206 to circa 1280: Albertus Magnus, 1210: The teaching of Aristotle banned at the University of Paris, Circa 1214 to circa 1294: Roger Bacon, 1225 to 1274: Thomas Aquinas, 1255: The teaching of Aristotle becomes mandatory at the University of Paris, 1285 to circa 1349: William of Ockham, 1291: Jerusalem captured by Islamic forces, Circa 1304: Theodoric of Freiberg writes De Iride (The Rainbow), 1337 to 1453: Hundred Years’ War, 1347: Black Death, 1453: Constantinople falls to Islamic forces under Mehmut
以下日期和事件按时间顺序列出,从上到下:1405 年至 1433 年:郑和下西洋,1406 年:拉丁学者重新发现托勒密的《地理志》,1448 年:古腾堡发明活字印刷术,1473 年至 1543 年:尼古拉斯·哥白尼,1492 年:哥伦布首次航行,1493 年至 1541 年:帕拉塞尔苏斯,1517 年:马丁·路德开始新教改革,1527 年至 1608 年:约翰·迪,1546 年至 1601 年:第谷·布拉赫,1556 年:阿格里科拉出版《论金属性质》(De Re Metallica),1564 年至 1642 年:伽利略·伽利莱,1571 年至 1632 年:约翰尼斯·开普勒,1596 年:开普勒出版《宇宙的奥秘》,1609 年:开普勒出版《新天文学》,1610 年:伽利略出版《星际信使》,1614 年:伽利略撰写《致大公爵夫人克里斯蒂娜的信》,1618 年:开普勒出版《世界的和谐》,1632 年:伽利略出版《关于两大世界体系的对话》,1633 年:伽利略接受罗马宗教裁判所审判并被软禁,约 1635 年:威廉·扬松和约翰内斯·布劳的世界地图出版,1638 年:伽利略出版《论两门新科学》
The following dates and events are listed in chronological order, from top to bottom: 1405 to 1433: Zheng He voyages, 1406: Ptolemy’s Geographia rediscovered by Latin scholars, 1448: Gutenberg introduces movable-type press, 1473 to 1543: Nicholas Copernicus, 1492: Columbus’s first voyage, 1493 to 1541: Paracelsus, 1517: Martin Luther begins Protestant Reformation, 1527 to 1608: John Dee, 1546 to 1601: Tycho Brahe, 1556: Agricola publishes De Re Metallica (On the Nature of Metals), 1564 to 1642: Galileo Galilei, 1571 to 1632: Johannes Kepler, 1596: Kepler publishes Mysterium Cosmographicum (The Mystery of the Universe), 1609: Kepler publishes Astronomia Nova (New Astronomy), 1610: Galileo publishes Sidereus Nuntius (The Starry Messenger), 1614: Galileo writes “Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina”, 1618: Kepler publishes Harmonices Mundi (The Harmonies of the World), 1632: Galileo publishes The Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, 1633: Galileo called before Roman Inquisition trial and house arrest, Circa 1635: Willem Jansoon and Johannes Blaeu’s world map is published, 1638: Galileo publishes Discourse on the Two New Sciences
以下日期和事件按时间顺序列出,从上到下:510 年至 1588 年:罗伯特·雷科德 (Robert Recorde),1561 年至 1626 年:弗朗西斯·培根 (Francis Bacon),1578 年至 1657 年:威廉·哈维 (William Harvey),1596 年至 1650 年:勒内·笛卡尔 (René Descartes),1620 年:培根出版《新工具书》 (Novum Organum),1627 年:培根出版《新亚特兰蒂斯》 (The New Atlantis),1627 年至 1691 年:罗伯特·波义尔 (Robert Boyle),1628 年:哈维出版《论动物心脏和血液的运动》 (On the Movement of the Heart and Blood in Animals),1637 年:勒内·笛卡尔出版《论方法》 (A Discourse on Method),1642 年至 1727 年:艾萨克·牛顿 (Isaac Newton),1644 年:笛卡尔出版《哲学原理》 (Principia Philosophiae),1644 年:埃万杰利斯塔·托里拆利 (Evangelista Torricelli) 制造气压计,1657 年:奥托·冯·格里克演示马格德堡半球,1658 年:波义尔和罗伯特·胡克制造出第一台气泵,1660 年:波义尔出版《物理机械新实验:接触空气的弹性及其影响》,1661 年:波义尔出版《怀疑论的化学家》,1662 年:伦敦皇家学会章程,1665 年:胡克出版《显微图谱》,1666 年:牛顿的奇迹之年,1666 年:法国皇家科学院成立,1666 年:纽卡斯尔公爵夫人玛格丽特·卡文迪许出版《自然哲学观察》,1687 年:牛顿出版《自然哲学的数学原理》(Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica),1700 年:柏林科学院成立,1702 年:玛丽亚·温克尔曼发现新彗星,尽管它不是以她的名字命名的,1704年:牛顿出版了《光学》
The following dates and events are listed in chronological order, from top to bottom: 510 to 1588: Robert Recorde, 1561 to 1626: Francis Bacon, 1578 to 1657: William Harvey, 1596 to 1650: René Descartes, 1620: Bacon publishes Novum Organum, 1627: Bacon publishes The New Atlantis, 1627 to 1691: Robert Boyle, 1628: Harvey publishes On the Movement of the Heart and Blood in Animals, 1637: René Descartes publishes A Discourse on Method, 1642 to 1727: Isaac Newton, 1644: Descartes publishes Principia Philosophiae, 1644: Evangelista Torricelli creates the barometer, 1657: Otto von Guericke demonstrates Magdeburg hemispheres, 1658: Boyle and Robert Hooke make first air pump, 1660: Boyle publishes New Experiments Physico-Mechanical Touching the Spring of the Air and Its Effects, 1661: Boyle publishes The Skeptical Chymist, 1662: Charter for the Royal Society of London, 1665: Hooke publishes Micrographia, 1666: Newton’s annus mirabilis, 1666: Académie Royale des Sciences founded, 1666: Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, publishes Observations upon Natural Philosophy, 1687: Newton publishes Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), 1700: Berlin Academy of Science founded, 1702: Maria Winkelmann discovers new comet, although it is not named after her, 1704: Newton publishes Opticks
以下日期和事件按时间顺序列出,从上到下:1667 年:巴黎天文台,1675 年:格林威治天文台,1690 年:约翰·洛克出版《政府论》,1724 年:加布里埃尔·华伦海特引入水银温度计,1735 年:弗朗西斯科·阿尔加罗蒂伯爵出版《女士的牛顿主义》(Newtonianismo per le dame),1735 年:卡尔·林奈出版《自然系统》,1736 年:皮埃尔·德·莫佩尔蒂出版《论地球的形状》,1738 年:伏尔泰(弗朗索瓦-玛丽·阿鲁埃)出版《牛顿哲学原理》,1742 年:安德斯·摄尔修斯引入摄氏温标,1743 年:美国哲学学会成立,1743 年至 1794 年:安托万·洛朗·拉瓦锡,约 1745 年:莱顿瓶的发明,1749 年:布丰伯爵出版《自然史》,1751 年至 1772 年:狄德罗出版《百科全书》,1756 年至 1763 年:七年战争,1761 年:约翰·哈里森精密计时器解决了海上经度问题,约 1765 年:月球学会成立,1766 年:皮埃尔·约瑟夫·麦凯尔出版《化学词典》,1769 年:金星凌日测量,1744 年至 1786 年:约瑟夫·普里斯特利出版《关于不同种类空气的实验和观察》,1775 年至 1783 年:美国革命,1776 年:亚当·斯密出版《国富论》,1780 年:美国艺术与科学学院成立, 1789 年:拉瓦锡出版《化学元素》,1789 年:法国大革命开始,1795 年:詹姆斯·赫顿出版《地球理论》,1796 年:皮埃尔-西蒙·拉普拉斯出版《世界系统博览会》
The following dates and events are listed in chronological order, from top to bottom: 1667: Paris Observatory, 1675: Greenwich Observatory, 1690: John Locke publishes Two Treatises of Government, 1724: Gabriel Fahrenheit introduces mercury thermometer, 1735: Count Francesco Algarotti publishes Newtonianismo per le dame (Newtonianism for the Ladies), 1735: Carolus Linnaeus publishes Systema Naturae, 1736: Pierre de Maupertuis publishes (On the Shape of the Earth), 1738: Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) publishes Elements of Philosophy of Newton, 1742: Anders Celsius introduces centigrade thermometric scale, 1743: American Philosophical Society founded, 1743 to 1794: Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, Circa 1745: Invention of the Leyden jar, 1749: Comte de Buffon publishes Histoire Naturelle, 1751 to 1772: Diderot publishes the Encyclopédie, 1756 to 1763: Seven Years’ War, 1761: John Harrison chronometer solves problem of longitude at sea, Circa 1765: Start of Lunar Society, 1766: Pierre Joseph Macquer publishes Dictionnaire de chymie, 1769: Measurement of the transit of Venus, 1744 to 1786: Joseph Priestley publishes Experiments and Observations on the Different Kinds of Air, 1775 to 1783: American Revolution, 1776: Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations, 1780: American Academy of Arts and Sciences founded, 1789: Lavoisier publishes Traité élémentaire de chimie (Elements of Chemistry), 1789: French Revolution starts, 1795: James Hutton publishes Theory of the Earth, 1796: Pierre-Simon Laplace publishes Exposition du Système du Monde
以下日期和事件按时间顺序列出,从上到下:1734 年至 1799 年:皮埃尔-西蒙·拉普拉斯出版《世界体系博览会》;1794 年:巴黎综合理工学院成立;1798 年:托马斯·马尔萨斯出版《人口原理》;约 1806 年:乔治·居维叶研究乳齿象;1808 年:约翰·道尔顿出版《化学哲学新体系》;1809 年:让-巴蒂斯特·德·莫奈·德·拉马克出版《动物学哲学》;1809 年至 1882 年:查尔斯·达尔文;1815 年:拿破仑战败;1822 年至 1895 年:路易·巴斯德;1830 年:查尔斯·巴贝奇出版《关于英国科学衰落的反思》;1830 年至 1833 年:查尔斯·莱尔出版《原理》地质学,1831 年:英国科学促进会成立,1833 年:威廉·惠威尔 (William Whewell) 推广“科学家”一词,1844 年:罗伯特·钱伯斯 (Robert Chambers) 出版《创造的痕迹》,1844 年:达尔文撰写了关于进化的论文但未发表,1845 年:皇家化学学院在伦敦成立,1848 年至 1859 年:亚历山大·冯·洪堡 (Alexander von Humboldt) 出版《宇宙》,1851 年:万国博览会在伦敦开幕,1851 年:开尔文勋爵 (William Thomson) 出版《热动力学理论》,1853 年:佩里准将抵达日本,1855 年:赫伯特·斯宾塞 (Herbert Spencer) 出版《心理学原理》,1856 年:威廉·珀金 (William Perkin) 发现苯胺染料,1858 年:阿尔弗雷德·拉塞尔·华莱士 (Alfred Russel Wallace) 将进化论寄给达尔文,1860 年:斯坦尼斯劳·康尼查罗 (Stanislao Cannizzaro)一种测量原子量的方法,1860 年:托马斯·亨利·赫胥黎与塞缪尔·威伯福斯就进化论展开辩论,1865 年:弗里德里希·奥古斯特·凯库勒引入苯环,1869 年:弗朗西斯·高尔顿出版《遗传天才》,1870 年:意大利统一,1871 年:达尔文出版《人类的由来》,1871 年:德米特里·伊万诺维奇·门捷列夫介绍他的元素周期表,1871 年:德国统一
The following dates and events are listed in chronological order, from top to bottom: 1734 to 1799: Pierre-Simon Laplace publishes Exposition du Système du Monde, 1794: École Polytechnique founded, 1798: Thomas Malthus publishes An Essay on the Principle of Population, Circa 1806: Georges Cuvier works on mastodon, 1808: John Dalton publishes New System of Chemical Philosophy, 1809: Jean-Baptiste de Monet de Lamarck publishes Philosophie zoologique, 1809 to 1882: Charles Darwin, 1815: Defeat of Napoleon, 1822 to 1895: Louis Pasteur, 1830: Charles Babbage publishes Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, 1830 to 1833: Charles Lyell publishes Principles of Geology, 1831: British Association for the Advancement of Science founded, 1833: William Whewell popularizes the term “scientist”, 1844: Robert Chambers publishes Vestiges of Creation, 1844: Darwin writes Essay on evolution but does not publish, 1845: Royal College of Chemistry opens in London, 1848 to 1859: Alexander von Humboldt publishes Cosmos, 1851: Great International Exhibition opens in London, 1851: Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) publishes On the Dynamical Theory of Heat, 1853: Commodore Perry arrives in Japan, 1855: Herbert Spencer publishes Principles of Psychology, 1856: William Perkin discovers aniline dye, 1858: Alfred Russel Wallace sends evolution theory to Darwin, 1860: Stanislao Cannizzaro introduces a way to measure atomic weight, 1860: Thomas Henry Huxley debates Samuel Wilberforce about evolution, 1865: Friedrich August Kekulé introduces benzene ring, 1869: Francis Galton publishes Hereditary Genius, 1870: Unification of Italy, 1871: Darwin publishes Descent of Man, 1871: Dmitri Ivanovitch Mendeleev introduces his periodic table of elements, 1871: Unification of Germany
以下日期和事件按时间顺序列出,从上到下:1791 年至 1867 年:迈克尔·法拉第;1798 年:朗福德伯爵发表《摩擦热源的实验研究》;1799 年:亚历山德罗·伏特发明电堆或电池;1811 年:阿梅代奥·阿伏伽德罗提出,同温同压下的所有气体,其等体积所含粒子数相同;1824 年:萨迪·卡诺发表《关于火的动力的思考》;约 1825 年:尼塞福尔·涅普斯制作了永久照片;1827 年:安德烈·玛丽·安培研究磁与电的关系;罗伯特·布朗描述“布朗运动”,1831 年:英国科学促进会成立,1831 年至 1879 年:詹姆斯·克拉克·麦克斯韦,1837 年:塞缪尔·莫尔斯为他的电报申请专利并推出他的密码,1843 年:詹姆斯·普雷斯科特·焦耳发表“关于磁电的热效应和热的机械值”,1848 年:美国科学促进会成立,1853 年至 1856 年:克里米亚战争,1858 年:尤利乌斯·普吕克发现阴极射线,1860 年:斯坦尼斯劳·坎尼扎罗发表 Sunto di un corso di filosofia chimica(化学哲学课程大纲)关于阿伏伽德罗的假设,1861 年:汉弗莱·戴维发表《蜡烛的化学史》,1861 年至 1865 年:美国内战, 1867 年:阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔为炸药申请专利,1891 年:乔治·约翰斯通·斯托尼提出“电子”一词,1895 年:威廉·康拉德·伦琴发现 X 射线,1895 年:威廉·维恩进行黑体实验,1896 年:安托万·亨利·贝克勒尔发现放射性,1898 年:玛丽·居里和皮埃尔·居里发现钋和镭,1900 年:马克斯·普朗克提出“量子”概念,1901 年:首次颁发诺贝尔奖,1903 年:欧内斯特·卢瑟福和弗雷德里克·索迪描述放射性衰变,1907 年:金箔实验揭示原子的内部结构,1911 年:罗伯特·安德鲁·密立根的油滴实验揭示电子电荷,1911 年:法国科学院投票拒绝玛丽·居里成为院士, 1912 年:尼尔斯·玻尔和卢瑟福发明了玻尔-卢瑟福原子
The following dates and events are listed in chronological order, from top to bottom: 1791 to 1867: Michael Faraday, 1798: Count Rumford publishes Experimental Inquiry Concerning the Source of Heat Excited by Friction, 1799: Alessandro Volta introduces electric pile or battery, 1811: Amedeo Avogadro suggests that equal volumes of all gases at the same temperature and pressure contain the same number of particles, 1824: Sadi Carnot publishes Réflexions sur la puissance mortice du feu (Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire), Circa 1825: Nicéphore Niépce produces permanent photograph, 1827: André Marie Ampère investigates the relationship of magnetism and electricity; Robert Brown describes “Brownian motion”, 1831: British Association for the Advancement of Science founded, 1831 to 1879: James Clerk Maxwell, 1837: Samuel Morse patents his telegraph and introduces his code, 1843: James Prescott Joule publishes “On the Calorific Effects of Magnoto-electricity and on the Mechanical Value of Heat”, 1848: American Association for the Advancement of Science founded, 1853 to 1856: Crimean War, 1858: Julius Plücker discovers cathode rays, 1860: Stanislao Cannizaro publishes Sunto di un corso di filosofia chimica (Epitome of a Course of Chemical Philosophy) on Avogadro’s hypothesis, 1861: Humphry Davy publishes The Chemical History of a Candle, 1861 to 1865: American Civil War, 1867: Alfred Nobel patents dynamite, 1891: George Johnstone Stoney introduces term “electron”, 1895: Wilhelm Konrad Röntgen discovers X-rays, 1895: Wilhelm Wien conducts the black-body experiment, 1896: Antoine Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity, 1898: Marie and Pierre Curie discover polonium and radium, 1900: Max Planck introduces concept of “quanta”, 1901: First Nobel Prizes awarded, 1903: Ernest Rutherford and Frederick Soddy describe radioactive decay, 1907: Gold foil experiment demonstrates the interior structure of the atom, 1911: Robert Andrew Millikan’s oil-drop experiment demonstrates electron charge, 1911: Académie des Sciences votes to reject Marie Curie as a member, 1912: Niels Bohr and Rutherford introduce the Bohr-Rutherford atom
以下日期和事件按时间顺序列出,从上到下:1848 年:美国科学促进会成立,1851 年:傅科 - 斐索实验确定光速为 300,000 公里/秒,1856 年:约翰·格雷戈尔·孟德尔开始研究豌豆植物的遗传,1871 年:普法战争和德国统一,1879 年至 1955 年:阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦,约 1880 年:奥古斯特·魏斯曼观察到细胞分裂,1887 年:阿尔伯特·迈克尔逊和爱德华·威廉姆斯·莫利未能测量以太,1900 年:雨果·德弗里斯、CE·科伦斯和 E. 冯·切尔马克重新发现孟德尔的工作,1901 年:德弗里斯出版《突变理论》,1903 年:沃尔特·萨顿出版《染色体理论》遗传,1903 年:弗里茨·哈伯开始研究固氮,1905 年:爱因斯坦的奇迹之年产生了包括狭义相对论在内的五篇论文,1914 年至 1918 年:第一次世界大战,1915 年:爱因斯坦提出广义相对论,1915 年:伊普尔第一次重大化学袭击,1917 年:俄国革命,1925 年:斯科普斯审判
The following dates and events are listed in chronological order, from top to bottom: 1848: American Association for the Advancement of Science founded, 1851: Foucault–Fizeau experiment establishes velocity of light at 300,000 km/s, 1856: Johann Gregor Mendel begins his work on pea-plant heredity, 1871: Franco-Prussian War and German unification, 1879 to 1955: Albert Einstein, Circa 1880: August Weismann observes cell division, 1887: Albert Michelson and Edward Williams Morley fail to measure ether, 1900: Hugo de Vries, C.E. Correns, and E. von Tschermak rediscover Mendel’s work, 1901: De Vries publishes Die Mutationstheorie, 1903: Walter Sutton publishes The Chromosomes Theory of Heredity, 1903: Fritz Haber begins work on fixing nitrogen, 1905: Einstein’s annus mirabilis results in five papers including special relativity, 1914 to 1918: World War I, 1915: Einstein introduces general relativity, 1915: First major chemical attack at Ypres, 1917: Russian Revolution, 1925: Scopes trial
以下日期和事件按时间顺序列出,从上到下:1905 年:威廉·贝特森 (William Bateson) 描述遗传中的混合特征,1905 年:克拉伦斯·麦克朗 (Clarence McClung) 发现 XX(女性)和 XY(男性)染色体,1910 年:托马斯·亨特·摩尔根 (Thomas Hunt Morgan) 发现性连锁特征,1916 年:摩尔根主张自然选择的遗传理论,1926 年:埃尔温·薛定谔 (Erwin Schrödinger) 将电子描述为驻波,1927 年:维尔纳·海森堡 (Werner Heisenberg) 描述不确定性,1927 年:特罗芬·丹尼索维奇·李先科 (Trofin Denisovich Lysenko) 推广“春化”,1928 年:弗雷德·格里菲斯 (Fred Griffith) 演示细菌的特征转移,1933 年:列奥·西拉德 (Leo Szilard) 构想链式反应,1935 年:“薛定谔的猫”思想实验,1939 年:莉泽·迈特纳 (Lise Meitner) 描述“裂变”,1939 年至1945 年:第二次世界大战,1941 年:西拉德说服爱因斯坦写信给罗斯福总统讨论原子武器,1941 年至 1945 年:曼哈顿计划,1942 年:恩里科·费米演示核链式反应,1944 年:奥斯瓦尔德·西奥多·埃弗里、科林·麦克劳德和麦克林·麦卡锡分离 DNA,1945 年:三位一体试验;广岛和长崎轰炸,1949 年:苏联试验第一颗原子弹,1950 年:埃尔文·查加夫确定 DNA 碱基的比例,1951 年:罗莎琳德·富兰克林制作 DNA 的 X 射线晶体学,1952 年:美国试验第一颗氢弹(聚变),1953 年:弗朗西斯·克里克和詹姆斯·沃森展示 DNA 结构
The following dates and events are listed in chronological order, from top to bottom: 1905: William Bateson describes blended characteristics in heredity, 1905: Clarence McClung discovers XX (female) and XY (male) chromosomes, 1910: Thomas Hunt Morgan discovers sex-linked characteristics, 1916: Morgan argues for a genetic theory of natural selection, 1926: Erwin Schrödinger describes electrons as standing waves, 1927: Werner Heisenberg describes indeterminacy, 1927: Trofin Denisovich Lysenko promotes “vernalization”, 1928: Fred Griffith demonstrates bacterial transfer of characteristics, 1933: Leo Szilard conceives chain reaction, 1935: “Schrödinger’s cat” thought experiment, 1939: Lise Meitner describes “fission”, 1939 to 1945: World War II, 1941: Szilard persuades Einstein to write to President Roosevelt about atomic weapons, 1941 to 1945: Manhattan Project, 1942: Enrico Fermi demonstrates nuclear chain reaction, 1944: Oswald Theodore Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty isolate DNA, 1945: Trinity Test; Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 1949: USSR tests its first atomic bomb, 1950: Erwin Chargaff determines ratio of DNA bases, 1951: Rosalind Franklin produces X-ray crystallography of DNA, 1952: United States tests first hydrogen (fusion) bomb, 1953: Francis Crick and James Watson present structure of DNA
以下日期和事件按时间顺序列出,从上到下:1915 年:阿尔弗雷德·洛塔尔·魏格纳出版《大陆和海洋的起源》;1919 年:罗伯特·H·戈达德出版《达到极限海拔的方法》;1927 年:乔治·F·勒梅特提出宇宙起源的“宇宙蛋”模型;1929 年:亚瑟·霍姆斯提出大陆漂移的“布丁”模型;1931 年:卡尔·杨斯基发现射电天文学;1933 年左右:电视原型;1937 年:格罗特·雷伯制造射电望远镜;1937 年:乔治六世国王的加冕典礼在电视上播出;1942 年:沃纳·冯·布劳恩等人。发射 A-4 (后来是 V-2) 火箭,1944 年至 1968 年:绿色革命,1945 年:阿瑟·克拉克提议地球同步卫星,1946 年:乔德雷尔银行射电望远镜安装,1949 年:弗雷德·霍伊尔创造“大爆炸”一词;他拒绝了这一想法,支持稳态模型,1950 年至 1953 年:朝鲜战争,1956 年:苏伊士危机,1957 年:斯普尼克 1 号和 2 号,1957 年至 1958 年:国际地球物理年,1958 年:美国发射的卫星探测器发现范艾伦辐射带;美国宇航局成立,1959 年:苏联卫星 Luna 3 号到达月球,1961 年:尤里·加加林成为进入太空的第一人,1961 年:约翰·肯尼迪宣布美国将派遣宇航员登上月球,1961 年:猪湾事件,1962 年:古巴导弹危机,1962 年:Telstar 卫星将电视转播到大西洋彼岸,1962 年至 1965 年:IGY 信息证实大陆漂移,1969 年:阿波罗 11 号登陆月球,1970 年:诺曼·博洛格获得诺贝尔和平奖,1972 年:Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan 被任命为印度农业研究理事会总干事
The following dates and events are listed in chronological order, from top to bottom: 1915: Alfred Lothar Wegener publishes Die Entstehung der Kontinente and Ozeane (The Origin of the Continents and Oceans), 1919: Robert H. Goddard publishes A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes, 1927: Georges F. Lemaître suggests “cosmic egg” model for origin of universe, 1929: Arthur Holmes suggests “pudding” model for continental drift, 1931: Karl Jansky discovers radio astronomy, Circa 1933: Prototype television, 1937: Grote Reber builds radio telescope, 1937: Coronation of King George VI is broadcast on television, 1942: Werner von Braun et al. launch the A-4 (later V-2) rocket, 1944 to 1968: Green Revolution, 1945: Arthur C. Clark proposes geosynchronous satellites, 1946: Jodrell Bank radio telescope installation, 1949: Fred Hoyle coins term “big bang”; he rejects the idea, supporting a steady state model, 1950 to 1953: Korean War, 1956: Suez Crisis, 1957: Sputnik 1 and 2, 1957 to 1958: International Geophysical Year, 1958: The satellite Explorer launched by the United States discovers Van Allen radiation belts; NASA created, 1959: The Soviet satellite Luna 3 reaches the moon, 1961: Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person in space, 1961: John F. Kennedy declares the United States will send a man to the moon, 1961: Bay of Pigs, 1962: Cuban missile crisis, 1962: Telstar satellite relays television across the Atlantic, 1962 to 1965: IGY information confirms continental drift, 1969: Apollo 11 lands on the moon, 1970: Norman Borlaug wins Nobel Peace Prize, 1972: Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan appointed director-general, Indian Council of Agricultural Research
以下日期和事件按时间顺序列出,从上到下:1821 年:查尔斯·巴贝奇构思了差分机,1834 年:巴贝奇开始研究分析机,1842 年:洛夫莱斯伯爵夫人奥古斯塔·阿达·拜伦描述了编程,大约 1850 年:维克多·阿梅德·曼海姆发明了现代计算尺,1912 年:三极管问世,开启了电子时代,1912 年:查尔斯·威尔逊发明了云室,1932 年:卡尔·安德森发现正电子,正如保罗·狄拉克所预言的,1937 年:阿兰·图灵发表了《论可计算数及其在判定问题中的应用》,1943 年:计算机“巨人”诞生,1945 年:约翰·冯·诺依曼发表了《EDVAC 报告初稿》,1946 年:珀西·斯宾塞意识到磁控管微波可以加热食物;ENIAC 计算机诞生;第一台同步加速器,1947 年:约翰·巴丁和沃尔特·布拉顿推出固态晶体管,1950 年:图灵出版《计算机器和智能》,1952 年:伦敦大烟雾,1959 年:集成电路问世,1960 年:口服避孕药问世,1961 年:默里·盖尔曼和尤瓦尔·尼曼模拟亚原子粒子,1962 年:水手 2 号前往金星,1962 年:雷切尔·卡逊出版《寂静的春天》,1965 年:戈登·E·摩尔推测计算能力的提升,1967 年:金星 4 号进入金星大气层,1970 年:环境保护局成立;罗杰·彭罗斯和斯蒂芬·霍金扩展了大爆炸理论;第一个地球日,1971 年:英特尔公司推出微处理器,1972 年:阿波罗 17 号,最后一次登月,1972 年:重组 DNA,1973 年:天空实验室发射,1976 年:海盗 1 号和海盗 2 号登陆火星,1977 年:DNA 测序,1979 年:先驱者 11 号到达土星,1980 年:美国最高法院裁定生物材料可以获得专利,1988 年:人类基因组组织成立,人类基因组计划启动,1990 年:哈勃望远镜发射,2001 年:完整人类基因组的“工作草案”
The following dates and events are listed in chronological order, from top to bottom: 1821: Charles Babbage conceives the Difference Engine, 1834: Babbage begins work on the Analytical Engine, 1842: Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace, describes programming, Circa 1850: Victor Amédée Mannheim develops the modern slide rule, 1912: Audion tube introduced, starting electronic age, 1912: Charles Wilson invents cloud chamber, 1932: Carl D. Anderson discovers positron, predicted by Paul Dirac, 1937: Alan Turing publishes “On Computable Numbers with an Application to the Entscheidungs-problem”, 1943: Computer “Colossus” built, 1945: John von Neumann publishes “First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC”, 1946: Percy Spencer realizes that magnetron tube microwaves could heat food; ENIAC computer built; first synchrotron, 1947: John Bardeen and Walter Brattain introduce the solid state transistor, 1950: Turing publishes “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”, 1952: Great Smog of London, 1959: Integrated circuit introduced, 1960: Oral contraceptive introduced, 1961: Murray Gell-Mann and Yuval Ne’eman model subatomic particles, 1962: Mariner 2 travels to Venus, 1962: Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring, 1965: Gordon E. Moore speculates about the increase in computing power, 1967: Venera 4 enters the atmosphere of Venus, 1970: Environmental Protection Agency created; Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking expand the Big Bang theory; First Earth Day, 1971: Intel Corporation introduces the microprocessor, 1972: Apollo 17, the last moon landing, 1972: Recombinant DNA, 1973: Skylab launched, 1976: Viking 1 and Viking 2 land on Mars, 1977: DNA sequencing, 1979: Pioneer 11 reaches Saturn, 1980: American Supreme Court rules biological material could be patented, 1988: Human Genome Organization formed, Human Genome Project started, 1990: Hubble Telescope launched, 2001: “Working draft” of complete human genome
以下日期和事件按时间顺序列出,从上到下:1895 年:康斯坦丁·齐奥尔科夫斯基建议使用电缆连接太空 - 首次构想太空电梯,1956 年:分离出人类生长激素,1966 年:首次科学讨论太空电梯,1972 年:重组 DNA,1981 年:扫描隧道显微镜 - 可以操纵单个原子,1983 年:亨廷顿氏病被确认为遗传异常,1985 年:发现巴克敏斯特富勒烯,1989 年:“冷聚变”争议,1990 年:转基因 T 细胞用于治疗腺苷脱氨酶缺乏症,1997 年:关于气候变化的京都议定书,1998 年:南希·奥利维里博士和药物去铁酮争议,1998 年:安德鲁·韦克菲尔德发表反疫苗声明,2007 年:IPCC 获得诺贝尔奖
The following dates and events are listed in chronological order, from top to bottom: 1895: Konstantin Tsiolkovsky suggests cable to space – first conception of a space elevator, 1956: human growth hormone isolated, 1966: First scientific discussion of a space elevator, 1972: Recombinant DNA, 1981: Scanning tunnelling microscope – can manipulate individual atoms, 1983: Huntington’s disease identified as a genetic anomaly, 1985: Discovery of buckminsterfullerenes, 1989: “Cold Fusion” controversy, 1990: Genetically modified T cells used to treat adenosine deaminase deficiency, 1997: Kyoto Protocol on climate change, 1998: Dr. Nancy Olivieri and drug deferiprone controversy, 1998: Andrew Wakefield makes anti-vaccine claim, 2007: IPCC wins Nobel Prize